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REPORT 

OF THE 

EXAMINATION 

OF THE 

SCHOOL SYSTEM 

OF 

BRIDGEPORT, CONNECTICUT 



CONDUCTED BY 

James H. Van Sickle 

it 



Issued by 

The Board of Education 

1913 






0, CNF i, 
SEP 28 1914 






SPRINGFIELD, MASS., February 20, 1913. 

To the Special Committee on Investigation of the School System, 
Bridgeport, Conn. 

GENTLEMEN: — I have the honor to present herewith my report 
upon the condition and needs of the schools of your city. In making 
this investigation, I have been assisted in portions of the work as 
follows: 

In comparing the expenditures for schools in Bridgeport with 
those oi other cities, by Dr. Leonard P. Ayres, Director of the Division 
of Education, Russell Sage Foundation, New York City. 

In the study of the City Normal School, by Dr. Andrew W. Edson, 
Associate Superintendent of Schools, New York City. 

In the study of the High School situation, by Dr. Henry S. West, 
of the College for Teachers, University of Cincinnati, serving as a 
city assistant superintendent of schools, assigned to high school 
supervision. 

In the study of the work in history in the grades and the High 
School, by Mr. Wilbur F. Gordy, specialist in history, Hartford, Conn., 
formerly Superintendent of Schools, Springfield, Mass. 

In the study of industrial conditions, by Mr. Egbert E. MacNary, 
Supervisor of Manual Training and Principal of the Vocational School, 
Springfield, Mass. 

In the study of arithmetic work in the grades, by Mr. Edwin 
Hebden, Director of the Bureau of Statistics and Research, Depart- 
ment of Education, Baltimore, Md. 

In the study of language work in the grades, by Mr. Edward H. 
Webster, Head of the Department of English in the High School of 
Commerce, Springfield, Mass. 

Without the aid of these men, each of whom is an expert in his 
particular field, it would have been impossible for me, within the 
time available, to make sufficiently extended observations in all of 
the fields covered by this report to give warrant for the positive 
recommendations which I am now able to present for your considera- 
tion. I have, however, spent many days in your schools and have 
given personal attention to every phase of the school work here dis- 
cussed. Therefore, while making grateful acknowledgement of the 
indispensable aid which I have received from each of my assistants, 
I assume full responsibility for every portion of this report. 



In making my report, I desire to call your attention at the out- 
let to those findings and recommendations which seem to me of great- 
est importance. The subjects mentioned in section I are treated at 
greater length in the pages which follow, along with a number of 
others which have seemed to me worthy of consideration. 

Such a report as this must necessarily mention defects before it 
can propose remedies. If more space seems to be taken in setting 
forth the shortcomings of the school system than in commendatory 
observations it is not because of any lack of excellent features to 
commend. The schools are well-organized, considering the serious 
financial limitations under which they have been conducted. Much 
has been accomplished in the face of almost insurmountable ob- 
stacles, and a well-knit, coherent system exists which may be de- 
pended upon to respond to all reasonable demands, provided proper 
financial backing is given. When the rapid growth of the schools is 
considered, with their constant demands upon a too limited super- 
visory force for administrative adjustment and re-adjustment, it is 
not surprising that some matters of importance have lacked attention. 

Very truly yours, 

JAMES H. VAN SICKLE. 



I. PBELIMEVABY COMMENTS AND BECOMMENDATIONS. 
Expenditures. 

The expenditures for education in Bridgeport are low. When a 
growing city attempts, as Bridgeport has done, to meet all its needs 
for new school buildings out of the annual tax levy, other school 
needs are hound to suffer. Future generations may properly be al- 
lowed to share the cost of improvements as permanent as school- 
houses. Not enough schoolrooms are provided and they are not ade- 
quately supplied with textbooks and other teaching equipment. Sal- 
aries of teachers are not high enough and are not so regulated as to 
furnish adequate reward for superior service. A higher maximum 
salary, if awarded upon the basis of merit, and not merely length of 
service, would prove a good investment. The facilities which are 
furnished the superintendent for the oversight of the work in the 
growing system of schools for which he is held responsible are notably 
deficient. His office force should be increased and he should have 
additional assistance in the field. While there are things in the school 
system that must be criticized adversely, there are many other things 
that command approval. Many of the defects to which attention is 
called owe their existence to the limited appropriations upon which 
the schools have had to depend. 

Overcrowding breeds retardation and early elimination of pupils 
from school. Lack of sufficient clerical force in the superintendent's 
office makes it impossible to keep and utilize such records as are 
needed in studies looking toward improvement. 

There are far too many pupils in the lower grades in proportion 
to the whole number in school. This means that many are repeating 
grades. Too many leave school altogether before they have received 
more than a modicum of education. Bridgeport's rank is very low 
in these particulars. The city cannot afford to give such meagre 
training to its future citizens. 

Teaching and Supervision. 

The spirit of the teaching force is notably good. The teachers 
are co-operative, loyal to their supervising officers and faithful in 
following out directions. They are doing team work. All this makes 
for the good of the service. Teachers do not demand more of their 
pupils in the matter of obedience to properly constituted authority 
than they themselves are willing to exemplify in their own conduct. 

The demands of office routine have so encroached upon the time 
needed for professional supervision that it has not been possible to 
raise the work in all subjects to the level attained by those that are 
best taught. For instance, in the grades the classroom work in 
geography is good, while that in history is extremely poor. There 
is no reason to suppose that teachers who do well in geography would 
be unable to do equally well in history if there had been time to give 
that subject the same effective supervision that geography has evi- 
dently received. 



The discipline of the schools is good. The attitude of pupils to- 
ward their teachers is one of confidence and respect. At first glance 
the order in some schoolrooms seems rather too rigid, yet stern re- 
pression is not in evidence. 

The greatest strength in teaching, as observed in classroom after 
classroom, is plainly in drill rather than in reasoning. 
Here we see one disadvantage in limiting admission to 
the teaching force to local candidates trained in the 
City Normal School. There 'is too much sameness of method, 
too little variety in procedure. All have learned in the same school 
to do things in the same way. By employing some teachers trained 
elsewhere, the city would not necessarily secure individuals of great- 
er personal power; the advantage would lie rather in the discussions 
that would arise through the comparison of ways learned elsewhere 
with those employed by the locally trained teachers. Practically all 
of the teachers in Bridgeport have received their training in the 
local training school. No matter how good the ideals and practices 
of the school may be, there must be relatively few differences of 
opinion among its graduates leading to discussion, and as a conse- 
quence less thought must be put into the work than where teachers 
who have learned different ways, or who have worked out individual 
ways of doing things, are working side by side with the uniformly 
trained home product. Teachers but begin their training in the 
normal school; their after-training is equally important. Conditions 
most favorable for good after-training are those which force teach- 
ers away from mere routine and stimulate them to do their own 
thinking. 

Course of Study. 

As an outline of work, the course of study is ingenious in ar- 
rangement and convenient for reference. The outline of the require- 
ment of a grade in any given subject may be seen at a glance, and 
the statement of requirement is terse but not sufficiently definite un- 
less supplemented by explanatory matter. The outline has been re- 
duced to its lowest terms, and a syllabus of each subject, indicating 
more fully the ground to be covered and the ends to be sought in 
teaching should accompany the outline. The appendix to the course 
contains such a syllabus for grade III geography, together with sev- 
eral pages of suggestions on the teaching of arithmetic throughout 
the grades, and brief directions for teaching spelling. It is prob- 
able that similar directions for the teaching of the other subjects in 
the curriculum have been given in teachers' meetings, but if these 
were summed up for each subject in a printed syllabus, the effect 
would be more permanent and teachers new to the city would be- 
come more immediately effective. 

In several subjects the textbooks form the basis for the work, 
and certain pages in the book are assigned to certain grades. If the 



requirements for each grade were stated under subject headings, and 
teachers directed to teach given phases of the subject, rather than 
certain pages of a textbook, there would be greater incentive to re- 
search and supplementary study of other textbooks. 

In geography, grades V to VII, time might be saved if the sylla- 
bus were to make mention of the more important topics to be studied 
and to indicate the desirability of a more cursory study of unim- 
portant detail. In the review in geography outlined for grade VIII, 
this plan has been approximated and the relative importance of the 
study of the various countries is indicated by the time allotted to 
them. 

The division of the time allotted to a subject in 'the daily pro- 
gram between study and recitation seems admirable in theory, and 
its results so far as they were observed in practice call for com- 
mendation. 

Reading. 

As an exclusive method, the method of teaching beginning read- 
ing employed in the first grades of Bridgeport is not the best now 
available. 

The method employed in teaching children to read has a very 
direct bearing upon their future progress in the schools. During 
the first two or three years of a child's school life, proficiency in 
reading is the main requisite for promotion from grade to grade, and 
a pupil's progress throughout the school course is influenced largely 
by his power to read and interpret the books to which he has access. 

By means of the most approved modern methods, it is possible 
for five-year old children to learn to read in a surprisingly short 
period of time, and without apparent mental or nervous strain. They 
proceed naturally from the oral repetition of a familiar rhyme, poem, 
or story, to the recognition of the printed symbols in which it is told 
on blackboard or chart, and they thus become acquainted with many 
sentences and words that stand for familiar ideas. The printed se- 
lection is, therefore, not merely "a sequence of word sounds and 
word names" to them, but it "has a distinctive total sound appearance 
and meaning." In this case the early vocabulary is not limited by 
the necessity for using phonetic words, and in consequence a large 
percentage of first grade pupils are able by the middle of the first 
year in school to read with much pleasure to themselves the delight- 
ful illustrated story books that publishers are supplying. 

The work in phonics is not allowed to interfere with this early 
recognition of sentences and words, but is pursued as a separate study 
until needed by the children as a key to the multitude of unfamiliar 
words that they meet as they delve into school and library books. 

From the first, attention is centered upon the meaning of what 
is read, and the context serves as an aid to word recognition. Children 



are encouraged to read fluently, and to this end short phrases printed 
on slips of paper are read by pupils at a glance. 

Children do not begin to apply their knowledge of phonics until 
they tave acquired power to recognize separate words and phrases 
with considerable rapidity. ■ 

One of the most effective of the modern methods used in teach- 
ing children to read is thus briefly outlined because of the conviction 
that strong and intensive work in this subject during the first school 
year, supplemented by a generous supply of suitable and interesting 
reading matter, must tend to decrease retardation in the schools of 
any city. 

Geography. 

The work done in this subject deserves special commendation. It 
was during the geography hour that the wisely conceived plan of 
dividing the time between preparation and recitation was observed 
at greatest advantage. During the first half of the period, the chil- 
dren, with their books open before them, read and discussed with the 
teacher the lesson for the following day. There was no stiffness and 
formality about this exercise. In all the geography classes visited, 
there existed a very pleasant relation between teacher and pupils. 
The conditions for learning, except as to over-large classes, were 
at their best. After a pleasant, and in most cases, lively discussion 
of the lesson for the next day, books were closed and the recitation 
of the lesson learned the day before was taken up. In all of the 
principal subjects, this study-recitation plan is prescribed. Not the 
least of its benefits is the tendency to reduce home study to a min- 
imum. 

In locative geography, the aim is to have the children fix in their 
minds such a picture of the map that recitations can be made from 
the mental picture. Wall maps are often used, however, in this study 
of locations, and some excellent rapid competitive drill exercises 
were observed, each lasting about five minutes. 

Cause and effect elements in geography receive due attention, 
and the study of grand divisions is conducted in accordance with a 
carefully prepared outline. 

Arithmetic. 

The work in arithmetic is carefully planned and the teaching evi- 
dently effective. The emphasis is placed upon fundamentals, and ac- 
curacy in abstract work is strongly emphasized. The course of study 
also lays stress upon the intelligent solution of concrete problems. 
When one considers the examination results in this subject, as set 
forth in another part of this report, the question arises whether th<? 
efforts which have been put forth to attain the high standard in 
abstract work which the schools have achieved have not resulted in 
fixing too high a standard for promotion in this subject, particularly 

8 



in the lower grades, thus swelling the number of retarded children. 
For instance, in the Bridgeport course of study for first grade, all 
the combinations and separations through twelve are required, where- 
as in most other school systems it is not customary to go beyond ten, 
and in many cities no formal work in arithmetic is required till the 
beginning of the second grade, even though children do not enter till 
they are six years of. age. The Bridgeport requirements in second 
and third grade are also more exacting than in the average city. This 
is a question that seems to call for further investigation. 

English. 

There is much in the work in English that is commendable, but for 
the purpose of showing the means by which the present course may be 
strengthened, emphasis in this report is placed upon apparent weak- 
nesses. The work in English is divided into Language (punctuation and 
technical grammar) , Composition (oral and written) , and Spelling. Each 
is considered as a separate subject rather than as a part of a unified 
whole with self-expression as the end in view. Much time and effort 
are thus wasted. By considering punctuation, technical grammar and 
spelling as practical aids in writing and speaking, and not as subjects 
to be mastered for facts, greater efficiency could be secured in the 
study o f English. To accomplish this, two things should be done. 
(1) Detailed directions should be given to the teachers now in the 
system in the form of an English syllabus designed primarily to show 
the most modern methods of teaching composition and the relation 
of this subject to technical grammar, punctuation and spelling; (2) 
A thorough course in English composition and literature should be 
required of all students in the Normal School. Such a course would 
give the future teachers a breadth of training and a depth of scholar- 
ship that are absolutely essential if efficient, original, and flexible 
methods are to be expected of them. 

Medical Inspection and Dental Clinic. 

One school physician and two nurses are employed by the City 
Department of Health. They devote their entire time to the work 
in the schools. ' During the course of the year one routine inspection 
of each school is made. The eye-lids, throat, skin and hair of each 
child are examined. Each child is also examined for defective nasal 
breathing, hypertrophied tonsils, tubercular lymph nodes, chorea, 
orthopedic defects, malnutrition, defective teeth, defective palate, 
defective vision, and defective hearing. The Department of Health 
maintains a clinic to which the children, whose parents are unable 
to employ a private physician, are referred. During the second round 
of visits to the schools the school physician gives talks on personal 
hygiene in addition to the work of inspection. The nurses devote 
themselves chiefly to the follow-up work in the homes, but they may 
be called into the schools to assist in the treatment of cases at the 
discretion of the medical inspector. They are also present at the 
clinics to assist the doctors. 



The Board of Education has made provision for an experimental 
dental clinic on advanced preventive and educational lines. The plan 
involves actual surface treatment of children's teeth once a month 
by a dental nurse. An appropriation of $5000 has been made, by 
means of which the plan is to be tried out in one school. In this one 
school the teeth of those children in the first five grades, whose par- 
ents are too poor to pay for dental service, will be filled by the grad- 
uate dentist in charge. No doubt bad health is partly responsible for 
the slow progress of many children in their studies. Bridgeport is 
to be commended for recognizing the fact that the human mechanism 
cannot reach its full efficiency unless all of the parts are in good 
working order, and for planning to give the child's body the first con- 
sideration instead of the last. 

Industrial Education. 

There is great need of developing and extending the limited high 
school opportunities now open to grammar school graduates, and of 
differentiated courses in the grades immediately below the high 
school, particularly in the interest of those pupils who will not have 
the advantage of a high school course. An industrial city like Bridge- 
port has especial need of such adjustment in its school program, both 
in elementary grades and in high school, as will aid its boys and girls, 
when they enter the industries, to start with the best possible pros- 
pects of advancement. This important function of the schools is more 
fully discussed in connection with "The Industrial High School" and 
"The Industries." It is not assumed nor suggested that all of the 
recommendations made in these two sections of the report should be 
acted upon at once. A modest beginning should be made in those 
directions where the needs seem to be most immediate and pressing, 
subsequent expansion being based on continued study and experi- 
mentation. 



10 



II. THE SCHOOL BOARD. 

Authority. 

The Board of Education is bi-partisan and consists oli twelve 
members. Nomination is equivalent to election. Each of the domi- 
nant political parties nominates two members, thus the selection of 
board members is by party rather than by people. 

The Board is divided into four committees, Schools (teachers), 
Finance, Schoolhouses, and Supplies. 

In the appointment of teachers the Board takes the initiative, 
not the Superintendent, though in practice his approval is necessary 
for appointment. There is considerable local pressure for the ap- 
pointment of residents or the friends of residents. 

The Board has full control of all school matters, including the 
purchase of sites and the erection of buildings. It is dependent upon 
the City Council, however, for appropriations, which are based on 
estimates submitted annually. 

Organization of the Schools. 

There are centrally located schools having eight grades, and 
others with only the lower grades which serve as feeders to the full 
eight grade schools. The elementary schools are organized on the 
basis of 45 to 50 pupils per teacher, and they average about 46 to 47 
per teacher. The per capita cost is low, being less than $27. 

The supervision is insufficient, yet in this item there has been 
a healthy growth. About ten years ago an itinerant substitute was 
appointed to take the room taught by the principal of a small build- 
ing about one day in two weeks, giving the principal this time to 
inspect the other rooms in her building. Last year this plan was 
extended so as to provide one-half day's teaching of the principal's 
class in each of the small buildings, alternating morning and after- 
noon sessions by weeks. 

Notwithstanding the growth of the system, the administration 
office is furnished only one general office clerk and one supply clerk 
and one assistant whose time is mostly taken at the telephone switch- 
board. The time of the general office clerk is so fully taken up by 
the general business of the Board that he can give almost no time 
to the superintendent's work. 

There are special supervisors, one each in music, drawing, writ- 
ing, and physical education. 

Comments and Recommendations. 

1. All nominations of teachers for appointment should be made 
by the Superintendent of Schools. Judging the relative qualifications 
of teachers is an expert service for which he is paid, and the com- 
munity is entitled to have this service rendered by him under condi- 

11 



tions which will insure untrammeled judgment on his part. It is the 
Board's right to disapprove any nomination so made, but neither the 
Board as a whole, nor any member of the Board, should take the 
initiative in this highly professional matter of selecting teachers. 
When they do so, they cannot, in the nature of things, secure the 
best service in this vital matter which the Superintendent is capable 
of rendering; for often, if he loves peace, he will be tempted to re- 
main silent rather than cause friction and dissension by opposing 
the appointment of a mediocre candidate who has been nominated by 
a member of the governing board. 

2. The grouping of the upper grades in centrally located schools 
is to be commended. This grouping should be still further emphasized 
when the building now occupied by the High School becomes avail- 
able for grade work. This feature has received mention in another 
part of this report, as has also the overcrowding of schoolrooms. 

3. The Superintendent should have added to his force in the 
field, one assistant and a supervisor of primary work. He should have 
added to his office force a stenographer and another clerk trained 
in statistical methods. The plan by which principals of small build- 
ings secure time for supervision has much to commend it. 

4. The collection and accounting of the children's savings appears 
to encroach to a wholly unwarranted extent upon the too limited 
time which a principal has for supervision, and, as conducted, is an 
unreasonable burden upon the teachers. If continued, the system 
should be changed to one which would conserve the time of prin- 
cipals and teachers by utilizing the willing aid of outside organiza- 
tions. Such arrangements have been made in other cities. 



III. THE FESAJSCIAL SUPPORT OF THE SCHOOL SYSTEM. 

In a very real sense, education can be bought and paid for. The 
perpetual problem of the community is how many of its children it 
is willing to afford to educate and how well. Within limits that have 
never yet been reached anywhere each community may have for its 
children as much and as good education as that community is able 
and willing to pay for. How much and how good education it actual- 
ly gets, depends, first, on how much money it spends, and, second, 
on whether or not it uses each dollar appropriated so as to get the 
best and largest educational return. 

Unfortunately, no standards exist whereby we may exactly meas- 
ure all the returns on the educational investment of a city. But we 
can compare the school expenditures of one city with those of other 
cities similar in size and discover whether the first city is paying 
more or less than the others for the education of each child and for 
different educational purposes. Such a comparative analysis has 
been made of the school expenditures of Bridgeport. 

12 



School Receipts. 

Bridgeport is a very rapidly growing city of something more than 
100,000 population and spending each year for public schools over 
a third of a million dollars. This money comes from three sources, — 
local taxes, state funds, and tuition fees. Roughly speaking, of every 
one hundred dollars received, 86 come from local taxes, 13 from state 
funds and 1 comes from tuition fees. 

Expenditures in Bridgeport and Eleven Other Cities. 

For the purposes of the present study, data as to school expendi- 
tures have been secured from Bridgeport and the eleven other cities 
most nearly of the same population for which the figures are avail- 
able in the reports of the United States Bureau of Education. 

The comparison of so many cities selected solely on the basis 
described avoids the danger of being unfair which might arise if 
only three or four cities were compared or if specially rich or un- 
usually progressive ones were chosen for the purpose. In order of 
size these twelve cities are the following: 

City Population in 1910 

Tacoma, Wash 83,743 

Springfield, Mass 88,926 

Lynn, Mass 89,336 

Salt Lake City, Utah 92,777 

Camden, New Jersey . . ; 94,538 

Bridgeport, Conn 102,054 

Spokane, Wash 104,402 

Cambridge, Mass 104,839 

Grand Rapids, Mich 112,571 

Dayton, Ohio 116,577 

Omaha, Neb 124,096 

New Haven, Conn 133,605 

Table I is the fundamental table on which most of the follow- 
ing comparisons are based. The figures for Bridgeport are for the 
school year 1911-1912. Those for the other cities are from the re- 
port of the United States Bureau of Education for 1911. They are 
the latest figures available. They refer only to current expenses and 
do not include payments for new buildings, grounds, etc. 



13 



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What the Schools Cost for One Child for One Tear. 

The amount that a community feels that it can afford to pay for 
the education of each school child each year is in some measure an 
index of its financial resources and in much larger measure an index 
of its estimate of the value of education. The amounts that different 
cities pay vary over a considerable range. In comparing these amounts 
for the twelve cities entering into this study, the total sum paid for 
school support during the year has been divided by the number of 
children in average attendance in all day schools. Average attend- 
ance has been chosen as a basis for these per capita computations 
because the figures expressing it are much more exact than are those 
for enrollment. Data for evening schools have been excluded for 
greater clearness and because their inclusion would have but slight 
effect on the results. 

The annual per capita costs of the schooling of the children in 
average attendance in the day schools of the twelve cities are shown 
in Table II and in graphic form in Diagram I. 

Table II. Annual per Capita Cost for Children in Average Attendance 
in the Day Schools of Twelve Cities. 

Spokane $49.37 

Springfield 45.77 

Tacoma 44.20 

Salt Lake City 43.50 

Dayton 42.58 

Omaha 42.34 

Camden 41.15 

Grand Rapids 40.54 

Cambridge 37.24 

Lynn 33.99 

New Haven 31.74 

Bridgeport 26.81 



15 




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Spokane pays almost twice as much per child per year as Bridge- 
port. The annual per capita cost for the average of the other eleven 
cities excluding Bridgeport, is §41.13. If Bridgeport spent as much 
on the education of each child as does the average city, she would 
be forced to increase her per capita expenditure by more than 50 
per cent. The added cost for each child would be over $14, while 
the added expense for the entire city would amount to nearly $200,000 
per year. This added expenditure would not lift Bridgeport to a high 
rank among her sister cities but would merely carry her up as far 
as the average. 

The Amount and Quality of Teaching per Child. 

In general, two factors largely determine the amount and quality 
of teaching received by each child in attendance. These are first, 
the size of class, and second, the salary of the teacher. In many 
individual instances this rule does not hold, but in the long run 
instruction suffers in over-crowded classes, and low salaries secure 
poor teachers. The salaries of teachers and the sizes of classes should 
be studied in relation to each other because together they largely 
determine the value of the results secured. Table III and Diagram 
II give the figures for the 12 cities. 

Table III. Average Annual Salary and Average Number of Pupils 
per Teacher in Twelve Cities. 

City Salary Pupils 

Spokane $1000 31 

Tacoma 958 33 

Dayton 801 31 

Grand Rapids ......... 800 30 

Cambridge 792 33 

Salt Lake City 777 30 

Springfield 754 27 

Omaha 744 30 

Lynn 723 32 

Camden 718 28 

New Haven 690 34 

Bridgeport 654 88 

The figures presented by the table and diagram show that itt 
Spokane, at the head of the list, the average salary is $1000, while 
the average number of pupils per teacher is 31. This means that if 
teaching be measured in terms of money cost the average child gets 
$32 worth of teaching during the year. The corresponding figures for 
Bridgeport, at the foot of the list, show that the average child re- 
ceived $17 worth of teaching during the year, or little more than 
half as much as the Spokane child. For the eleven cities besides 
Bridgeport, the average teacher's salary is $796 and the average 
number of pupils 31, which means that in the average city each pupil 

17 



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f"- •-'■'■iw-^... — i - J -__L.^,l^,_'J-L-L^l^; "'■lM^J 



Diagram II.— Average Annual Salary and Average Number of Pupils 
Per Teacher in Twelve Cities. 

receives $26 worth of teaching each year. As lias been pointed out, 
such comparisons as these are not valid in individual instances but 
when applied to large groups of cases they throw light on the exist- 
ing conditions in a truly significant way. In the present instance 
they show in general terms that Bridgeport children get far cheaper 
teaching and much less of it than the children of the other cities. * 

The Amount Spent for Each Child -for Each School Purpose. 

The foregoing comparisons have shown that the average city 
spends each year more than half as much again as does Bridgeport 
for the education of each child. This does not mean that the Bridge- 
port expenditures fall' below those of the average city in just the 
same degree for each of the 12 main purposes for which the funds 
are spent. For some of these the Bridgeport child gets far less- than > 
the child of the average city, while for others the disproportion is not 
so great Just how much each city spends per child for each purpose 
is shown in Table IV. 



*Salary of 


teachers in 


elementary schools, B] 


ddgeport: 


Grade. 


Minimum 


Yearly 


increment. 


Maximum. 


I 


$500 




$50 


$800 


II 


500 




50 


750 


III 


500 




50 


750 


IV 


500 




50 


750 


V . 


550 




50 


800 


VI 


550 




50 


800 


VII 


550 




50 


800 


VIII 


— — 






850 



The lowest salary paid to an assistant In the high school is $750, 
and the highest $1700. 



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For comparative purposes the facts presented in Table IV become 
much, clearer when they are gathered together so as to show the 
relation between per capita expenditures for each purpose in the 
average city and in Bridgeport. This is done in Table V. 

Table V. Per Capita Expenditure for Each Purpose in the Average 
City and in Bridgeport. 

Average Bridge- Dift'er- 

Purpose City port ence 

Salaries of teachers ............... $25.88 $17.07 — $8.81 

Salaries and expenses of principals 2.95 2.51 — .44 

Wages of janitors & other employees 2.85 1.48 — ■ 1.37 

Maintenance 2.28 1.51 — .77 

Fuel ..... . 1.46 1.33 — .13 

Stationery and supplies 1.39 .42 — .97 

Board of Education office .85 .30 — .55 

Textbooks 85 .50 — .35 

Salaries and expenses of supervisors .73 .52 — .21 

Water, light and power 73 .55 — .18 

Superintendent's office 63 .33 — .30 

Other expenses .53 .29 — .24 

Total $41.13 $26.81 —$14.32 

The facts of Table V are presented in graphic form in Diagram 
III. The circle in outline represents the total per capita expenditure 
in the average city. The 12 sectors into which the circle is divided 
are proportional in area to the amounts expended for each of the 12 
main purposes for which the school funds are spent. The portion 
of the surface of each sector that is shaded represents the expendi- 
ture for that purpose in the Bridgeport schools. The diagram clearly 
shows that in some respects Bridgeport expenditures are not far be- 
low the standard, while in others' they are notably deficient. 

Most striking of all is the fact that in every one of the twelve 
items the Bridgeport expenditures are below the average standard. 
Unless the Bridgeport money is spent far more efficiently than is that 
of other cities, this means that the Bridgeport child does not get his 
fair share of any single sort of educational opportunity. 

How Much Bridgeport Spends for Every Dollar That the Average City 
Spends. 

In the long run, cities, like individuals, purchase about what they 
pay for, not much more and not much less. Since Bridgeport spends 
far less than the average city of her size for every purpose of educa- 
tional effort, there can be but little doubt that she is not only paying 
less, but purchasing less. The degree of these discrepancies between 

20 










Diagram III.— Surface of Circle Represents Total Per Capita Ex- 
penditure in the Average City. Sectors Are Proportional to Amount 
Spent for Each of the Twelve Main Purposes for Which Funds Are 
Expended. Shaded Portion Represents Expenditure in Bridgeport. 
Under Each Heading the First Figure Gives in Dollars and Cents the 
Amount Spent Per Child Per Year in the Average City and the 
Second Figure the Corresponding Amount for Bridgeport. 

21 



the expenditures of Bridgeport and those of her eleven sister cities 
may be better realized by discovering the amount she spends for each 
purpose for every dollar spent by the average city of similar size 
for the same purpose. This comparison has been made in Table VI 
and Diagram IV. In order to make the data comparable, they have 
been computed on the basis of the per capita expense for each child 
in average attendance in the day schools. 

Table VI.. Expenditure for Each Purpose by Bridgeport for Each 
■' Dollar Spent by the Average City for That Purpose. 

:'"•;■' For each dollar 

the average Bridgeport 
Purpose city spends 

Fuel $1-00 

Salaries and expenses of principals 1.00 

Water, light, and power 1.00 

Salaries and expenses of supervisors 1.00 

Salaries of teachers 1.00 

Maintenance 1.00 

Text books 1.00 

Superintendent's office 1.00 

Wages of janitors and other employees 1.00 

Stationery and supplies 1.00 

Board of Education office 1.00 .22 

All other purposes 1.00 .55 

The facts of the table are illustrated in Diagram IV, which shows 
in graphic form the comparative amounts spent for each purpose by 
the average city and by Bridgeport. ' 

The Share of Each Citizen' in City Support and School Support. 

The comparisons so far made % refer to the per capita expenditures 
for each child in school. Further light may be thrown on the situa- 
tion by computing the per capita expenditures for each inhabitant 
of the city not only for school support but for all municipal purposes. 
These data are available from the report of the United States Census 
for 190.8 presenting statistics of .cities for that year. The population 
figures have been corrected by the data from the census of 1910. The 
comparison reveals the conditions presented in Table VII and Dia- 
gram V. 



22 



FOA FVF/RY DOLLAR T//AT 



THE AVf/?AG£ 
C/TV SPE/VDS 



FUEL - fg|£/ 

SALAP/ES OFPP/A/C/ PALS ( )£/ 
SA/ATEP.L/GHT; AA/D PO\NEA&'%$ / 



SALAP/ES QFSUPEftV/SOAS 
$ALA#/ES OF TEACH 'EAs 



MA /WTSA/A /VC £ 



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TEXT BOOKS 

SUPEP/A/ TENDEN TS OPF/CE ppj| $ / 

WA(J£S OF J A A/ /TORS 



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AIL THER PUP P OSES 



*/ 



BP/DGEPORT 
SPENDS 



| 9 /CENTS 

# BS 
IS 

w 7/ 

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30 

i ss 



Diagram IV.— Expenditure For Each Purpose By Bridgeport For 
Each Dollar Spent By the Average City For That Purpo&e. 



Table TIL Expenditures per Capita of Population for 
poses and For School Support. Data from 
Cities, United States Census, 1908. 



Per capita expenditure 
Cities for all city purposes 

Springfield $16.69 

Cambridge 15.39 

Dayton 13.61 

Tacoma 13.51 

Salt Lake City 13.27 

Spokane 13.02 

New Haven 12.92 

Lynn 12.76 

Omaha 12.29 

Grand Rapids .. 12.21 

Bridgeport 11.51 

Camden 11.18 



for 



All City Pur- 
Statistics of 

Per capita 
expenditure 
public schools 

$6.17 
4.93 
4.81 
5.11 
6.17 
5.73 
4.29 
3.85 
4.51 
5.03 
3.17 
4.65 



SPRINGFIELD 

CAMBRIDGE 

DAYTON 

TACOMA 

BALTLAKECITY 

SPOKANE 

NEW HAVEN 

LYNN 

OMAHA 

GRAND RAPIDS 

MtBGiPOM 

CAMDEN 




6.11 



6.11 



]V6.» 



] /S.99 



1 /3.6/ 
1 13. SI 

3/3.02. 

3/2S2 

[J/2..76 



3 I2-3-9 
1 lt.2.1 



3 USt 



J 11-19 



Diagram V. — Each Bar Represents Expenditure Per Inhabitant 
For All Municipal Purposes In That City In 1908. Black Portion 
Represents Expenditure Per Inhabitant For Public Schools. 

The results show that Bridgeport spends less per citizen for its 
community activities than does any other of the cities save Camden. 
For the support of its schools it spends not only less per inhabitant 
than does any other city, but very much less. 

How Each Thousand Dollars is Spent. 

The figures of the fundamental table show how much money is 
spent for each purpose in each city, but since the cities differ in 
size they are not directly comparable. In order to find out not how 
much is spent in each locality, but how it is spent, a computation has 
been made to reduce all the data to a single basis and show how 
each city spends each thousand dollars. The results are presented 
fn Table VIII. 

24 



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By taking the average of the figures for the other eleven cities, 
we may derive from Table VIII a statement of the expenditures in 
the "average city" and compare it with the data -for Bridgeport. This 
simplifies 'our problem and enables us to discover how Bridgeport 
compares with the typical or average city of similar size. The results 
are presented in Table IX. 

Table IX, Expenditure of Each Thousand Dollars for School Pur- 
poses in the Average City and in Bridgeport. 

Average 



Salaries of teachers $629.97 

Salaries and expenses of principals . 70.82 

Wages of janitors, etc 69.97 

Maintenance 55.20 

Fuel 35.75 

Stationery, etc 33.86 

Text books 20.94 

Board of Education office 20.41 

Salaries and expenses o-f supervisors. 17.84 

Water, light, power, etc 17.16 

Superintendent's office 15.22 

All other expenses 12.86 



Bridgeport 


Difference 


$886.97 


+ $ 7.00 


93.72 


+ 22.90 


$$»$& 


— 14.64 


58.43 


+ 1.23 


40.48 


+ 13.68 


15.53 


— 18.33 


18.fi 7 


— 2.27 


11.15 


— 9.26 


19.38 


+ 1.52 


20.69 


+ 3.53 


12.13 


— 3.09 


10.59 


— 2.27 



Total $1000.00 

The facts of Table IX are presented in graphic form in Diagram 
VI, in which the areas of the triangles are proportional to the 
amounts spent for the different purposes. In each case the triangle 
in outline represents the amount spent by the average city while 
the shaded triangle is proportional in area to the expenditure in 
Bridgeport. 

The results of this comparison . presented in Table IX and Dia- 
gram VI show that of each thousand dollars expended, Bridgeport 
spends more than does the average city for the salaries of teachers, 
the salaries and expenses of principals, maintenance, fuel, salaries 
and expenses of supervisors, and water, light, power, etc. She de- 
votes a smaller proportion of each thousand dollars than does the 
average city for wages of janitors and other employees, stationery, 
text books, the support of the Board of Education office, the support 
of the Superintendent's office, and for miscellaneous expenses. In 
considering these comparisons, it must be carefully borne in mind 
that the figures do not refer to the gross amounts of money spent 
for these different purposes, but only to the way in which each thous- 
and dollars spent is proportioned among the different school pur- 
poses in the average city and in Bridgeport. 

26 .; 



SALARIES OF 
TEACHERS 



$637 




SALARIES OF 
PR INC/PALS 




WAGES OF 
JANIT0R3 



MAINTENANCE 





FUEL 




STATIONERY 
434-/ 




TEXT 
BOOKS 




BOARD OF 

EDUCATION 

OFFICE 




SALARIES OF 
SUPERVISORS 




ALL 
OWE® 




Diagram VI. — Detailed Analysis of Expenditure of Each Thous- 
and Dollars of School Funds in the Average City and in Bridgeport. 
Triangles in Outline Represent Portion of Each Thousand Dollars 
Spent For Each Purpose in the Average City; Shaded Triangles 
Represent Expenditure in Bridgeport. 



27 



The Educational Rank of Bridgeport Among the 168 Towns and Cities 
of Connecticut. 

The State Board of Education of Connecticut publishes compara- 
tive tables giving the rank of the 168 towns and cities of the State 
in each of nine educational conditions. The first seven of these nine 
particulars in which the towns and cities are compared refer to edu- 
cational resources of population, money, children, and teachers, while 
the last two refer to educational expenditures. The first seven, which 
refer to resources are the following: 

Population 

Valuation of property 

Educational funds received from the State 

Children enumerated 

Average attendance 

Children enrolled 

Teachers 

The last two, which refer to expenditures, are: 

School expenditure per child enrolled 

School expenditure per child in average attendance. 

Diagram VII shows the comparative rank of Bridgeport among 
the 168 towns and cities with respect to these nine particulars. In 
tne first seven, which refer to resources, her rank is second, third, or 
fourth. In the last two, which refer to expenditures, her rank is 
153d and 154th. 



(0 

20 
30 
tO 
<T0 
60 
70 
80 
90 
too 

//0 

tio 

/SO 
/40 
/so 

/60 


POPU- 
LA T/ON 


PROP- 
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STATE 
FUNDS 


SCHOOL 
CENSUS 


ATTEND. 
AA/CE 


ENROLL- 
MENT 


TEACH- 
ERS 


COST PSA 

ch/ld 

EN- 
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C///LC 
ATTEND 
/A/G 




















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/S3/?D 


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Diagram VII.— Rank of Bridgeport Among the 168 Towns and Cities 
of Connecticut in Each of Nine Educational Comparisons. 



29 



IV. DISTRIBUTION OF PUPILS IN THE SCHOOLS. 



"The general tendency of American cities is to carry all of their 
children through the fifth grade, to take one-half of them to the 
eighth grade and one in ten through the high school." (Laggards in 
Our Schools, Ayres, p. 4.) This statement was made in 1909 at the 
close of the most comprehensive study of retardation that has yet 
been undertaken. In discussing the condition' of the schools of 
Bridgeport, it is proper to note how closely its results in respect to 
progress and survival tally with this general tendency. 

Bridgeport is an industrial city with an unusually large foreign- 
born population engaged in industries, most of which utilize un- 
skilled labor. It might be expected then that Bridgeport would fall 
somewhat below the average standard in the high school and per- 
haps also in the upper grammar grades, but since the common school 
course is conceived of as representing the least amount of schooling 
that should be permitted to anyone, we ought to expect even a city 
of this markedly industrial type to conform in the lower grades to 
the general tendency. 

The degree of conformity to this general tendency exemplified in 
the Bridgeport schools will be discussed in connection with statis- 
tical tables, the data for which were furnished by the School 
Department. 

We shall first treat year by year the membership of the class that 
constituted the first grade twelve years ago. 

TABLE 1. 

Class Membership 

Elementary and High School Grades 

Bridgeport 













Per cent of 


Year 




Grade 


Papils ' Beginners 


Beginners 


1902 




I 




3241 *1727 


100 


1903 




II 




2022 


117 


1904 




III 




1827 


106 


1905 




IV 




1498 


87 


1906 




V 




1127 


65 


1907 




VI 




841 


49 


1908 




VII 




529 


31 


1909 




VIII 




460 


27 


1910 


H. 


S. 1st 


yr. 


308 


18 


1911 


H; 


S. 2d 


yr. 


249 


14.4* 


1912 


H. 


S. 3d 


yr. 


182 


10.5 


1913 


H. 


S. 4th 


yr. 


91 


5.3 


=t 


'For method of estimating the number of beginners, 


see page 31. 



30 



At first glance this table would seem to show that only 460 pupils 
out of 3241, or 14% of the class of 1902, were carried to the eighth 
grade, and that less than one-half of the class remained in school 
after the third grade. But it must be remembered that the number 
of children in a first grade is never the number of beginners. A 
first grade is always made up of some children who entered this year, 
plus some who entered a year ago, plus some who entered two years 
ago or even earlier. 

The records do not show how many children entered school in 
1902 as beginners, but their number may be estimated from the num- 
ber of beginners in 1912-13, which the records do show. 

Beginners, 1912-13, Bridgeport: 

April, 1912 

Sept., 1912 1894 

Feb., 1913 

2508 
If, on the basis of the recorded increase in population in ten 
years (43.7%), we consider 2508 to be 43.7% greater than the num- 
ber of beginners in 1902, we get 1640 as the number of beginners in 
1902. If we proceed on the basis of the increase in total enrollment 
in ten years (Municipal Register 1912, page 586) or 39.4%, we get 
1814 as the number of beginners in 1902. Averaging 1640 and 1814, 
we get 1727. The number of beginners in Bridgeport in 1902 could 
not have been far from 1727. Using this as a basal number repre- 
senting the number of beginners in 1902, we find that only 841 pupils, 
or 49 % of the class, progressed as far as the sixth grade. The strik- 
ing feature of this record is the congestion in the lower grades and 
the rapid elimination of pupils as we approach the upper grades. 
When the class of 1902 reaches the eighth grade, it numbers 460, or 
only 27% of its original membership, although it has had accessions 
in grades above the first hj reason of the rapidly increasing popu- 
lation. In the first high school year we find 308 pupils, most of whom, 
probably, were in the original class of 1902, but some of whom were 
later accessions. Their number is 18% of the original class. The 
fourth year high school class has retained 5.3% of the membership 
with which the original class started. 

Betardation. 

Pupils who have taken more than one-half year to reach grade 
I 2 , more than one year to reach grade II 1 and more than one and 
one-half years to reach grade II 2 are retarded. No school system i3 
free from retardation. The amount of retardation in Bridgeport must, 
however, be pronounced excessive. To illustrate: According to the 
Progress and Age Study blanks returned under the direction of the 
School Department for September of the present scholastic year, 
grades I 2 , II 1 and II 2 were made up of children who had attended 
school as follows: 

31 



Grades 


I 2 


IP 


II 2 


% year 


46 


3 


3 


1 year 


303 


181 


19 


1% years 


344 


286 


53 


2 years 


207 


385 


226 


2% years 


98 


236 


145 


3 years 


44 


179 


238 


3% years 


22 


53 


79 


4 years 


15 


61 


100 


More than 4 years 


16 


74 


81 



1095 



1448 



944 



Retardation by Age and Grade. 

The amount of retardation in all the elementary grades is shown 
in another way by the "age and grade" standard in the following 
table compiled from data furnished by the School Department. The 
standard commonly agreed upon rates as above normal age all chil- 
dren in the first grade who are eight years of age or older, those in 
the second grade who are nine years of age or older, and so on for 
each succeeding grade. 



TABLE 2. 



Distribution 



Ages 
Under 5 yrs 

5 years 

6 years 

7 years 

8 years 

9 yesrs 

10 years 

11 years 

12 years 

13 years 

14 years 

15 years 

16 years 

17 years 

18 years 



1912. 
VII. Vlll. Totals 

16 




Totals 3911 2488 2172 2022 1405 958 713 

Above normal age 655 921 1153 1207 861 518 281 
Per cent, above 

normal age 16% 37 53 59% 61 54 39 



404 14073 
112 5708 



27 



40 



32 



Table 2 shows the ages of pupils at the beginning of the school 
year. Figures taken in September will show a lower percentage of 
retardation than will similar data gathered later in the school year. 
These numbers and percentages, therefore, are as favorable as any 
that the school records could yield. 

All below the broken line in the table are above normal age for 
the grades they are in. The number of over-age pupils in each grade 
is shown in a line below the table and in the next line these num- 
bers are reduced to a percentage basis. Out of a total of 14,073 pupils, 
5707, or 40 % , of the whole number are above the normal age for 
their grades. 

It will be noted that there is a decided falling off in attendance 
after the fourth grade. In fact, the greatest loss occurs at this point. 
The fourth grade loses 617 pupils, while the fifth loses 447, the sixth 
245 and the seventh 309. (The discrepancy between the number of 
children in first and second grade has been explained in connection 
with Table 1.) 

Since the fifth grade is 30% smaller than the fourth, it is evident 
that in Bridgeport the general tendency is not to carry all the chil- 
dren through the fifth grade, but only through the fourth grade. The 
records of the State Agent's ofhce show that children begin to drop 
out of school in the third grade. From September, 1911 to December, 
1912, working certificates were given to 49 children in the third 
grade, 192 in fourth grade, and 564 in the fifth grade. 

In Ayres' study of retardation in 31 cities, 24 cities of the 31 show 
a lower proportion of their pupils above normal age for their grades 
than Bridgeport. Bridgeport's rank, if included in this table, would 
be 25. (Ayres, Laggards in Our Schools, p. 45). 

For purposes of comparison, the distribution of pupils by ages 
in the eight grades of the Grand Rapids, Michigan, schools, as found 
in the annual report for 1911, is here given. The two separate tables, 
one representing boys and the other girls, have here been combined 
in one table. Grand Rapids has been chosen for comparison because 
it is an industrial city of composite population, not much larger than 
Bridgeport, — not because of any noteworthy record of pupil progress. 
In fact, its rank in this respect in the Ayres table of 31 cities would 
be 22, only three points above Bridgeport; but its pupils are better 
distributed through the grades. 



33 



TABLE 3. 

Grand Rapids, Michigan. 

Distribution of Pupils by Ages and Grades, September, 1910. 

A g es I. II. III. IV. V. VI. VII. Vlll. Totals 

5 years 43 1 44 

6 years 813 45 1 859 

7 years 800 616 57 2 1475 

8 years 27T 685 440 52 1451 

9 years 50 ""HF 656 272 36 3 1329 

10 years 20 108 "~33T" 570 314 26 1 1373 

11 years ...... 11 21 134 361 452 175 35 1 1190 

12 years 3 5 50 184 364 345 183 39 1173 

13 years 5 18 72 170 336 360 224 1185 

14 years 1 5 29 116 236 329 280 996 

15 years 1 3 13 38 107 189 295 646 

16 years 1 2 11 36 61 123 234 

17 years ...... 3 3 24 30 

18 years ...... 66 

Totals 2014 1800 1699 1557 1501 1267 1161 992 11991 

Above normal age 358 453 545 661 669 718 582 448 4464 
Per cent, above 

normal age 17.7 30 32 42 46 57 50 45 37 

Comparing the percentages representing the children who are 
over-age for their grades in the two cities, we have the following: 

Grade I. II. III. IV. V. VI. VII. Vlll. Totals 

Bridgeport 16.5 37 53 59.5 61 54 39 27 40 

Grand Rapids . . . 17.7 30 32 42 46 57 50 45 37 

The fact that strikes one's attention here is the higher percentage 
of over-age children in Bridgeport through the fifth grade and the 
higher percentage in Grand Rapids after the fifth grade. 

The explanation is obvious. There are more repeaters in Bridge- 
port than in Grand Rapids, and there is also greater elimination. 
The over-age pupils have dropped out of school. 

Grand Rapids has carried pupils to the eighth grade, 45 % of whom 
are above the standard age for the grade, and this is creditable. In 
Grand Rapids 28.5% of all pupils enrolled in the elementary schools 
are in grades VI, VII and VIII; in Bridgeport 14.7%. In Grand 
Rapids 31.6% of all pupils in grades I to V are retarded; in Bridge- 
port, 40%. 

Over-age pupils are found in all grades in all school systems. 
We judge the standing of a school system in the matter of progress 
and survival (1) by the proportion of its pupils who are not over- 
age in 'the grades in which the compulsory attendance laws are oper- 
ative, and (2) by the proportion of its pupils that it holds in school 

34 



after the law allows them to leave. Thus measured, the standing of 
Grand Rapids is by no means high, but that of Bridgeport must be 
pronounced decidedly low. To meet the moderate standard set by 
Grand Rapids, Bridgeport should have 4011 pupils in grades VI to 
VIII (28.5% of 14,073), whereas we find only 2075, too few by 1936. 
By the Grand Rapids standard, Bridgeport should have only 3791 
over-age pupils in grades I to V (31.6% of 11,998), whereas it has 
4797, too many by 1006. 

Analysis of Fifth Grade Enrollment. 

The "age and grade" table for judging retardation needs to be 
supplemented by one showing the time in school as well as age and 
grade, for in Tables 2 and 3 children who enter late and have made 
regular progress appear as retarded along with those who have been 
held back to repeat one or more grades. The fifth grade has been 
selected for analysis. It is in this grade that retardation culminates 
at 61%. Two tables .are shown. One table represents the pupils in 
grade V 1 , the other those in grade V 2 . 



Age and Time in School, Grade V 1 , Bridgeport, September, 1912. 

AGES. 



Years in 




















Sch'l 5 6 


1 8 


9 


10 


11 


12 


13 


14 


15 16 17 18 Total 


% 


















1 




















iy 2 












1 






1 


2 




















2V 2 




















3 


2 


3 


6 


2 


1 




1 




15 


3y 2 




2 


3 


5 










10 


4 




20 


27 


17 
28 
56 


5 








69 


4y 2 




8 
1 


28 
68 


10 




1 


1 


76 


5 


40 


12 


1 




178 


5y 2 




1 


22 


33 


22 


9 


1 




88 


6 






2 


65 


57 


27 


3 




154 


ey 2 








25 


41 


16 


4 


1 


87 


7 








.7 


53 


37 


15 


3 


115 


7y 2 










14 


22 


7 


2 


45 


8 










1 


28 


13 


5 


47 


8y 2 












3 


7 




10 


9 












3 


10 


4 


17 


9y 2 




















10 












1 




2 


3 


io y 2 




















n 








238 












Total 


2 


35 


156 


244 


159 


63 


18 


915 



35 



This table shows that in September there were 915 children in 
the V 1 grade in Bridgeport. By referring to the top row of figures, 
it will be seen that these children varied in age from 8 to 15 years, 
and reference to the first column shows that they had been in school 
from 1V 2 to 10 years. According to the commonly accepted standard, 
the age of 11 years is the normal age for children of t'he fifth grade; 
and thus, by drawing through the table two heavy vertical lines, we 
divide the figures into three groups, leaving on the left all the children 
below normal age, and on the right those above normal age. When 
the figures of the three groups are added, we have the following re- 
sults: 

Below normal age, 193 

Normal age, 238 

Above normal age, 484 

In a similar way, divisions into progress groups are made by 
drawing two heavy horizontal lines between which should be includ- 
ed children who have been in school four years and have just begun 
the fifth grade, thus making normal progress. But to err on the side 
of over fairness, we assume 4% years in school to be normal for 
beginning the V 1 grade and 5 years for beginning the V 2 grade, thus 
allowing V 2 year for good measure. Those remaining above the lines 
ihave made rapid progress, while those below have made slow progress. 
Adding the figures for these groups we have the following: 

Rapid progress 95 

Normal progress, • ... 76 

Slow progress 744 

We have noted that 484 pupils are over-age and that 744 have 
made slow progress, but we see that the terms "slow" and "over-age" 
will not invariably refer to the same pupils. Some of the over-age 
pupils are not slow and some slow pupils are not over-age. We find 
94 pupils who are young but slow, and 8 who are over-age but rapid, 
and other combinations between. If we add the figures in each di- 
vision we have a new table in which the 915 children are distributed 
by age and progress groups as follows: 

Youag Normal Over-age Total 

Rapid ............ 63 24 8 95 

Normal 36 28 12 76 

Slow 94 186 464 744 

Total 193 238 484 915 



36 



Age and Time in School, Grade V 2 , Bridgeport. September. 1912. 

AGES. 



Years in 

Sch'l 5 6 7 


8 9 


10 


11 


12 


13 


14 


15 


16 17 


18 Total 


y 2 
i 


















1% 

2 




















2y 2 

3 i 








?. 










2 


3i/2 
4 




3 


3 

3 


i 










3 

7 


4% 


2 
1 


4 
18. 


2 

34 

_ 21 

32 


3 


1 


■» 






13 


5 


15 


.1 








69 


5% 

6 




13 
3 


22 

34 


16 
23 


1 
3 






73 
95 


6y 2 






10 


27 


30 


2 


1 




70 


7 








18 


28 


7 


1 




54 


7% 

8 








17 

4 


20 
16 


6 

8 


3 
1 


1 


47 
29 


sy 2 
9 










6 


7 
9 






13 
9 


9% 
10 












1 


2 
1 


1 


3 
2 


10% 

11 




















11% 

12 






^05 










1 


1 


Total 


3 


41 


143 


141 


45 


9 


3 


490 



Treating this table as we treated trie table for grade V 1 , we have 



rmal 


Over-age 


Total 


28 


8 


25 


34 


16 


69 


63 


317 


396 



the following: 

Young 

Rapid 9 

Normal 19 

Slow 16 



Total 44 105 341 490 

Combining the figures for grades V 1 and V 2 we have the following: 

Age and Progress Groups, Fifth Grade. 

Young Normal Over-age Total 

Rapid 72 32 16 120 

Normal 55 62 28 145 

Slow 110 249 781 1140 

Total 237 343 825 1405 



37 



Reducing the numbers in the above table to a percentage basis, 
we have the following: 

Per cent Per cent Per cent 

Young Normal Over-age Total 

Per cent, rapid 5 2 1 8 

Per cent, normal 4 4 2 10 

Per cent, slow 8 18 56 82 

. Total 17 2i 59 100 

This is not a good showing. It cannot be expected, of course, 
that all children in a grade will make normal progress, but there 
should be a closer correspondence between the number who are young 
and have made rapid progress and the number who are over-age and 
have made slow progress, the two extremes in the table. These num- 
bers are 72 and 781. The ratio is 1 to 11. 

Comparison with 31 Other Cities. 

Some of the causes contributing to this condition will be pointed 
out later. At this point it is desirable to show by comparison that the 
percentages yielded by the Bridgeport table are unusual. Many more 
children are leaving school in Bridgeport without receiving a toler- 
able minimum of education than in 29 cities studied by the Division 
of Education of the Russell Sage Foundation in 1911. The following 
table shows the result of that study in percentages as published in 
the American School Board Journal for December, 1911. 

School Children by Young, Normal, and Old, and by Rapid, Normal, 
and Slow Groups. 

Average Conditions for 29 Cities. 

Per cent Per cent Per cent 
Young Normal Over-age Total 

Per cent, rapid 6 3 2 11 

Per cent, normal 21 21 10 52 

Per cent, slow 2 10 25 37 

Total 29 34 37 100 

It will be noted that in these 29 cities the percentage represent- 
ing the children who are young and have made rapid progress is 
related to that representing those who are old for the grade and 
have made slow progress as 1 to 4, while in the Bridgeport table the 
ratio is 1 to 11. In the table for the 29 cities, it will be noted fur- 
ther that there is better balance between the percentages whether 
we compare them horizontally or vertically. For instance, the per- 
centage of those old for the grade (37) is nearly balanced by the per- 
centage of those who are young for the grade (29). In the Bridge- 
port table the corresponding numbers are 59 and 17. 

38 



It is clear that according to generally accepted standards too few 
children in the elementary grades of Bridgeport are making rapid 
or even normal progress, and that far too many are making such slow 
progress that they arrive at the age when they may legally receive 
the working certificate before they have reached the fifth grade. 

Causes of Excessive Eetardation. 

Some of the causes of this unfavorable condition are obvious: 

(1) The schoolrooms are overcrowded. According to the month- 
ly report for February. 50 or more pupils are in attendance in each 
of 33 rooms, and from 45 to 49 in each of 150 rooms. No teacher can 
do justice to her pupils under such conditions. The maximum number 
of pupils per teacher should be 42. The best work cannot be done 
when the number in the class exceeds 35. Thirty-two additional 
classrooms would be needed to reduce the present attendance to 42 
pupils per room, not counting rooms needed for special classes and 
industrial work. 

(2) There are no special classes for foreign born children, 
whose chief need at first is to learn the English language. 

(3) There are no special classes for retarded children, and 
only one for the feeble-minded. Scattered through the lower grades, 
a few in each room, they learn little and they impede the progress of 
normal children. 

(4) Though the state law permits school boards to fix a school 
grade which the pupils must pass before they can receive the working 
certificate, no such action has been taken in Bridgeport. During the 
fifteen months ending last December, 1356 children in grades II to 
VI, all of the retarded class and over fourteen years of age, left 
school to go to work. 

(5) The course of study in arithmetic makes heavier demands 
upon the pupils in the first three grades than is now customary in 
most school systems. Doing so much in arithmetic in the lower 
grades is not essential to securing the high rank in fundamentals 
which Bridgeport has attained in the upper grades. 

(6) The phonetic method by which all beginners are taught to 
read fails to appeal to the natural interests of children and makes too 
great a demand upon their feeble power to deal with abstractions. 
Children make much more rapid progress in learning to read, and 
attain no less independence in reading, by methods which involve 
less sheer drudgery. This method as used makes learning to read 
so difficult that only the very brightest children can meet the first 
grade requirement in a year. 

(7) The requirement in formal grammar in all grades below 
the seventh is too heavy. Such definitions and grammatical forms as 
are called for in grades I to V, inclusive, have little or no value as 

39 



training in the use of language in speaking and writing. Grade VT 
is 'the first in which formal grammar should begin, and it would be 
better to defer it till the seventh grade is reached. 

(8) It is questionable whether examinations should play so im- 
portant a part in the promotion of pupils as they appear to do in 
Bridgeport. When examinations are used primarily as teaching exer- 
cises, and secondarily as a check upon varying judgments of teachers, 
they need not be retarding influences. Perhaps all principals in 
Bridgeport so use them, but unless the official circulars are inter- 
preted more liberally than their language warrants, the examination 
system an use must be responsible for a large share of the retarda- 
tion which is so conspicuous in the schools. 

V. PROPOSED CHANGES IN ORGANIZATION. 

In the seventh and eighth grades the enrollment is relatively 
small. We find in them only 1117 pupils out of a total of 14073 (see 
table 2, p. 32). In several schools the classes in these grades are 
so small that for the sake of economy they must occupy the same 
room. Results under such an arrangement must be unsatisfactory. 
Recommendations. 

Reorganize the elementary grades so that grades I-VI shall con- 
stitute a unit and grades VII-VIII a unit. In the two-year unit 
formed by grades VII-VIII, provide for differentiation of work in ac- 
cordance with the needs of different groups of pupils and particu- 
larly in the interest of pupils destined to leave school at the end of 
the eighth grade. 

Through grades VII and VIII offer four distinct lines of instruction: 
(1) academic; (2) commercial; (3) industrial; (4) domestic. And in 
the academic course provide foreign language study (Latin and Ger- 
man or French), this particularly for pupils destined to go to college. 

Have the seventh and eighth grade instruction conducted on a 
carefully arranged departmental plan, collecting all the seventh and 
eighth grade classes into certain buildings conveniently located about 
the city; but in any one such center not all four of the differentiated 
courses need be offered, consideration being given to the character of 
the neighborhood in selecting the courses to be offered. 

Transfer seventh and eighth grade classes from the Clinton Ave- 
nue School to the building now used as the High School, thus giving 
added facilities to the City Normal School in the Clinton Avenue 
building. Transfer other seventh and eighth grade classes now in 
the smaller outlying schools to the old high school building to the 
limit of accommodations. Distance should not be an objection, since 
the .proposal anticipates the inevitable transfer by only two years 
and offers opportunities greatly superior to any that can be provided 
in scattered outlying schools. 

Reorganize the four high school grades so that there shall be 
certain coherently planned two-year courses alongside the four-year 
courses. For several specific recommendations along this line, see 
the section on the Program of Studies. 



Grammar Grade Differentiation. 

Not only educational principles, but also certain obvious facts 
suggest that in the upper grades there should be differentiation of 
instruction to meet the varying needs of different groups of children. 
The traditional uniform academic course (with perhaps some little 
time given to manual training or domestic science) which still pre- 
vails in many cities is an arrangement good enough for pupils who 
are to have a long period of schooling; but much more profitable 
courses can be offered for pupils whom economic impulse will force 
into productive work at a comparatively early age. The latter class 
of pupils are now leaving school at various points from the fourth 
or fifth grade on, and often just as soon as they reach the legal limit 
of compulsory schooling. They quit school because of the attraction 
of wages, it is true, but chieflly because they have natural inclina- 
tions that lead away from the bookish interests of pupils destined 
ultimately to enter the professions; and such unliterary pupils would 
remain in school longer and receive more adequate training for good 
citizenship and efficient social service, if the school offered, alongside 
the academic work, parallel courses of industrial, commercial, and 
domestic instruction. Into the latter lines of activity many pupils 
will eventually go, and they will prove much more reliable and con- 
tented employees if they have received instruction enlightening them 
in the importance and dignity of callings other than the so-called 
professions, and if they have been given an introductory training pre- 
paring them for the rapid acquisition of skill when they enter par- 
ticular lines of business or definite trades. 

The foregoing considerations lead to the recommendation for a 
differentiation of school work at the beginning of the seventh grade. 
Boys and girls certain to go into the high school (and in a number 
of cases even to college) would continue to pursue through the sev- 
enth and eighth grades the present academic studies with the added 
privilege, entirely optional, however, of beginning a foreign language 
at the age, twelve to fourteen years, when the drill incident to lan- 
guage acquisition is most acceptably undertaken. Pupils, on the other 
hand, destined to begin work toward self-support at an early age, 
either in business or in the industrial field, would find in the pro- 
posed seventh and eighth grade industrial courses just the sort of 
instruction and training most interesting to them and most profitable 
for the future life work to which they are to devote themselves. More- 
over, the industrial instruction and practice here proposed can be 
developed along either or both of two lines: (1) the prevocational 
course to awaken interest in industrial pursuits and disclose the 
natural bent of the pupil; (2) specific trade training courses for 
those in whose cases decision has been made for this or that leading 
trade of the community. And finally, the proposed domestic course 
for seventh and eighth grade classes will afford to many girls the 
only opportunity they will ever have for systematic instruction to- 
ward becoming in the future the efficient home-makers that every 
community so sorely needs. 

41 



Departmental Instruction. 

Differentiation of instruction in the upper grades naturally sug- 
gests departmental teaching, because no single teacher can be ex- 
pected to teach the whole range of subjects included in the group of 
parallel differentiated courses. Departmental teaching is the plan 
common in high schools, where several teachers co-operate in the 
instruction of a group of classes by having the classes pass from 
teacher to teacher, receiving from each teacher instruction in only 
a single subject or in but two or three related subjects. This plan 
of teaching is to be recommended for grammar grade classes, at any 
rate for the seventh and eighth grades, whether or not differentiated 
courses are offered. It is true that departmental teaching in the ele- 
mentary school has dangers (.for example, the overworking of pu- 
pils), that must be guarded against; but any competent principal 
with intelligent assistants frequently conferring together can avoid 
the possible disadvantages of departmental instruction and secure all 
the real advantages of the plan. 

Of these advantages (frequently set forth in educational litera- 
ture) the following may be here enumerated: better teaching; bet- 
ter equipment; enriched curriculum; promotion by subject; improved 
physical conditions for pupils; interest and stimulus of several teach- 
ers instead of one only; college graduates in grammar grade posi- 
tions; transition to high school attitude and methods. 

Xo argument, is needed to establish the fact that a teacher can 
become more expert in her teaching when she has to prepare upon 
only one subject or a few related subjects, and these subjects a^&o 
in the line of her special interests, than when she must prepare upon 
the whole round of subjects now taught in the seventh and eighth 
grades of any progressive school system. Similarly, it is a great ad- 
vantage to the pupil to be taken on from grade to grade in a given 
subject by the same teacher, an expert in the particular subjec\ 
Again, no argument is needed to show that a given outlay to pur- 
chase equipment for, say, geography instruction, will go much farther 
when applied in the fitting up of a single room, the geography teach- 
er's room, than when divided up among several rooms to give each 
of several teachers a share of the equipment for her geography les- 
sons. Better teaching and better equipment inevitably bring about 
an enriched curriculum; for each of the teachers., in learning more 
and more about her chosen subject and in accumulating more and 
more equipment, will step by step develop the more important phases 
of her work and give less attention to or even discard entirely the 
less important phases; and, moreover, every study in the course, be- 
ing in the hands of a sort of specialist, will receive its due share of 
time and attention, and will be taught so as to stir interest and pro- 
duce truly educative effects. On the other hand, when a pupil has 
difficulty with any subject, the departmental plan, in affording a 
medium for promotion by subject, makes it an easy matter to advance 
this pupil in everything he has been successful with, while at the 

42 



same time holding him back for review upon the subject only in 
which he has failed. Pupils also enjoy improved physical conditions 
under the departmental plan in getting the relief, activity, and va- 
riety afforded by moving from room to room as the periods of the 
day roll by. And many a pupil who finds school irksome and mo- 
notonous, or even repellent under the one-teacher plan (especially 
with a teacher not in Group A of the superintendent's efficiency roll), 
will develop a new interest and pleasure in his work under the stim- 
ulus of several teachers co-operating in departmental organization. 

It is just the departmental organization, moreover, that will 
bring into the grammar grades scholarly and enthusiastic college 
graduates, for college graduates entering the school service have 
quite as lively an interest in seventh and eighth grade children as in 
high school pupils; but the task of teaching the whole work of a 
grade, including subjects quite outside the teacher's special inter- 
ests, is not attractive to one who has gone to college for the express 
purpose of getting superior knowledge and training in the two or 
three selected subjects that the candidate wants to teach. 

Finally, and as a consequence of all the foregoing, departmental 
instruction in grammar grades is an admirable device for mediating 
the transition from the elementary school to the high school, be- 
cause under this plan pupils are introduced gradually to high school 
methods and assume quite easily the high school attitude; and al- 
though this consideration may be said to apply only to the pupils 
who go on to the high schools, it is nevertheless an important factor 
both in determining how many will thus prolong their schooling be- 
yond the eighth grade and also in unifying the whole school system 
of a city. 

Bridgeport, it is believed, would experience every one of these 
educationally beneficial effects from the introduction and judicious 
management of departmental teaching in the seventh and eighth 
grades. 



YI. THE CITY NORMAL SCHOOL. 

The city training school for teachers is in Public School build- 
ing Xo. 3, located on Clinton Avenue, near State Street. The build- 
ing was erected in 1890. In this building and in a portable building 
in the rear yard is an elementary school of fifteen classes of all grades 
through the eighth year. 

The normal department has forty-nine students, twenty-one 
seniors and twenty-eight juniors. The students who are not teach- 
ing in the elementary school, recite and study in one room. In this 
room are the text-books, reference books, library books, and practic- 
ally all of the apparatus and illustrative material used in the normal 
department. 



Teaching Force. 

The teaching force consists of a principal and five critics or super- 
visors. 

The principal is a graduate of the Bridgewater, Mass., State Nor- 
mal School, has studied one year at Radcliffe College, and has taken 
extension courses at Clark University, Yale University, and Colum- 
bia University. She was a teacher and principal in various schools 
in Massachusetts and Connecticut for fourteen years; assistant super- 
intendent in Worcester, Mass., three years, and has been principal 
of the Bridgeport City Normal School for fourteen years. 

One of the critics is a college graduate. This one and three others 
are graduates of the Bridgeport High School and had taught for a 
number of years in Bridgeport before appointment to the Normal 
School faculty. 

The other critic is a graduate of the Lowrie Kindergarten Training 
Institute, Jersey City, and of the New Paltz (N. Y.) Normal School. 
She taught in schools in New York and New Jersey, eleven years, 
and has been critic in the Bridgeport Normal School four and one- 
half years. 

All have broadened their experience by taking extension work 
or attending one or more University Summer sessions. 

The assignment of work to the teaching force is as follows: The 
principal supervises the work of the entire building, attends to all of 
its administrative features, and teaches school management and prin- 
ciples of education in the theory department, three periods per week 
in the first term, four periods the second term, and three periods the 
third term. 

The critic teachers, "supervisors," both give the theory and direct 
the practice. Also each critic (except one) has two or three rooms 
in charge with four or six students at practice. Here there is too 
much to be done; the conditions render adequate supervision of each 
student's practice simply impossible, on the other hand it is impos- 
sible to conduct the theory instruction in the best way. Consequently 
the pupils in the classrooms are not being properly cared for, and 
the normal students are not receiving as high grade training as the 
city should provide. There should be a liberal addition to the teach- 
ing force if the normal faculty are to be responsible both for normal 
instruction and for the progress of the children in so many classes; 
or the building should be allowed additional regular teachers for 
some of the rooms which need not thereby cease to be practice rooms 
for part of each day. With such heavy assignments to the normal 
instructors and with no study rooms and no library, the teaching is 
largely by teachers' lectures based on outline notes. Hence much of 
the students' theory work cannot amount to more than note-taking 
practically at dictation and cramming the contents of the note books. 

44 



The special supervisors of music, drawing, writing.' and physical 
training in the city schools instruct the normal students one period 
per week. 

Entrance Bequirenients. 

Candidates for entrance to the City Normal School must be resi- 
dents of Bridgeport and must be graduates of the Bridgeport High 
School, or must have completed a course of study considered equiva- 
lent, or must pass a satisfactory examination. 

Graduates of the Bridgeport High School are accepted from 
either the English or College Preparatory Course. The courses differ 
considerably. The English Course provides a review of grammar, 
geography and arithmetic, two periods per week for one semester 
of the senior year for those planning to attend the City Normal 
School. A definite standard of scholarship in these elementary school 
subjects is not insisted upon if students have points to their credit 
in other high school subjects. 

Several students have been graduated from the high school and 
thereby admitted to the City Normal School, although they did nol 
do satisfactory work in their review of the elementary school sub- 
jects dn high school. The College Preparatory course does not offer a re- 
view of the elementary school subjects. Of those at present in attend- 
ance at the City Normal School, two juniors and four seniors are 
graduates of the College Preparatory Course. 

Every candidate must present evidence of good health, and must 
possess good moral character. The physical examination is not defi- 
nitely outlined. No city medical examiner is employed. The family 
physician, or any physician, gives such an examination as he sees 
fit, in order to be able to sign the following certificate: 

"I have this day given Miss ■ a medical exam- 
ination and find her in good health with no tendencies toward weak- 
ness or disease that should interfere with her pursuit of the Course 
of Study and Practice in the City Normal School for teachers or of 
the vocation of teaching. 

" — ■ M. D." 

No further physical examination is given before appointment to 
the teaching force. 

There is no prescribed limit to the number of candidates admitted. 



45 



Course of Study. 








Juniors — 








1st Term— 


-14 weeks— 


-Theory 


all day 


2nd Term- 


—14 weeks- 


—Theory 


A. M. 




14 weeks- 


-Practice 


P. M. 


3rd Term- 


- 9 weeks- 


-Theory 


all day 


Seniors — 








1st Term— 


-14 weeks— 


-Practice 


all day 


2nd Term- 


—14 weeks- 


—Practice 


A. M. 




14 weeks- 


-Theory 


P. M. 


3rd Term- 


— 9 weeks- 


—Practice 


all day 



Division of Theory Work. 









Forty 




Junior Yeai 






minute 
periods 


Hour 
periods 


1st Term 


Principles of Education, 


Equivalent 55 


38 




Methods of Recitation, 


" 


40 


27 




School Mechanics, 


" 


20 


13 


14 wks. 


Phonics, 


" 


70 


47 


" 


Nature Study, 


" 


50 


33 




Arithmetic, 


" 


70 


47 




Geography, 


cc 


70 


47 




Music, 


" 


20 


13 




Drawing, 


" 


20 


13 




Writing, 


" 


20 


13 




Physical Training, 




20 
455 


13 
304 




(A. M.) 








2nd Term Principles of Education, 


tt 


35 


23 




Methods of Recitation, 


" 


20 


13 




Psychology, 


II 


20 


13 


14 wks. 


Reading, 


II 


40 


27 


<< 


Arithmetic, 


II 


20 


13 




English, 


II 


40 


27 




Music, 


II 


20 


13 




Drawing, 


II 


20 


13 




Writing, 


</ 


20 


13 




Physical Training, 


II 


20 


13 



255 



168 



46 



Forty 









minute 


Hour 


Senior Year — 






periods 


periods 


3rd Term 


General 


Methods, Equival 


lent 35 


23 


9 wks. 


Psychology, 


50 


33 


" 


Manua' ' 


Training, 


50 


33 




English, 


" 


50 


33 




Geography, 


50 


33 




Music, 


" 


12 


8 




Drawing 


<< 


12 


8 




Writing, 


" 


12 


8 




Physical 


Training, 


12 
283 


8 
187 


2nd Term 


(P. M.) 


School Management 


55 


37 


14 wks. 




History of Education 


45 


30 






History 


45 


30 






Music 


10 


7 






Drawing 


11/ 


7 






Writing 


10 


7 






Physical Training 


10 


7 



185 



For the Course. 

English, including phonics, reading, oral and written 

composition • - 

Geography - 

Arithmetic - 

Principles of Teaching 

General Method - 

History of Education 
Psychology - 

Nature Study - 
Music - - 

Drawing 

Writing - 

Physical Training 



The text-books with which each student is provided, are: 

McMurry's General Method 

McMurry's Method of Recitation 

Tichener's Psychology 

James' Psychology 

Monroe's History of Education 

Kemp's History of Education 

Mace's History Methods 

Tarr and McMurry's Geography 



125 



200 


133 


120 


80 


90 


60 


90 


60 


95 


63 


45 


30 


70 


47 


50 


33 


62 


51 


62 


51 


62 


51 


62 


51 



47 



The Junior Program for the first term of the present school year: 

Mon. Tues. Wed. Tiiiirs. Fri. 

00 — 9:15 Nat. Study Morning exercises. 

15— 9:55 Nat. Study Geo. Nat. Study Geog. Nat. Study 

O'O — 10:55 Education Drawing Education Math. Rec. Education 

00— 11:55 Music Nat. Study Writing Nat. Study Phy. Ed. 



1:30 — 2:25 Geog. Arith. Arith. Arith. Arith.. 

2 : 30 — 3:25 Math. Rec. Phonics Phonics Phonics Phonies 
The program is changed each month to enable the critics and 
supervisors to supervise at different hours of the day and the sub- 
jects in the grade classes. 

Ofoservatioa. 

The opportunities afforded the students to observe model work 
are very limited. During the junior year the students have occa- 
sional opportunities to observe groups of children in the normal room 
taught by a critic, classes in the elementary school taught by a critic 
or senior, and groups or classes taught by a junior. 

During the senior year, they may observe occasionally classes 
taught by a critic or special teacher, or of a senior in charge. 

Practice Teaching. 

Twelve of the fifteen elementary school classes in the building, 
grades I to V, are taught by students of the City Normal School. The 
highest grades In the building are entirely apart from the Normal 
Department, the students having nothing to do with these classes, 
either in observation or practice. The seniors teach all day during 
the first and third terms. During the second term the seniors teach 
in the morning, and the juniors in the afternoon. 

The critics supervise the work as before indicated, and teach a 
lesson occasionally. 

As a preparation for teaching, the juniors are given some pre- 
liminary instruction during the first week of the second term. For 
three days they are instructed in groups by the critic teachers in the 
mechanics of the class work and schoolroom management, they are 
given lessons on the principles of education peculiarly applicable to 
classroom instruction, and they are allowed to observe the work of 
seniors and critics in teaching the classes to which they have been 
assigned. 

The daily programs and weekly outlines are carefully examined 
in advance by the critics. If there are two pupil teachers assigned 
to one room, each teaches her own group in reading, arithmetic, and 
geography, and alternates with the other pupil teacher in teaching 
the whole class in the other subjects. 

Throughout the day, as time permits, the principal and critics 
observe the work of pupil teachers, take notes, suggest and criticise. 



At the close of the day, each Monday, the principal meets the critics 
for suggestion and reports, and on Tuesday each critic meets the 
pupil-teachers assigned to her and offers general suggestions, crit- 
icisms, and plans of work. One hour each week, usually Friday at 
3:30 P. M., is reserved for individual criticism. 

The pupil-teachers have teaching experience during the course 
in three grades and under three critics — the first assignment as 
juniors, the second as seniors 'from September till April, and third for 
the balance of the school year. 

For this teaching service the seniors receive $2000 appropriated 
by the city, — from $75 to $100 each. The seniors are called upon to 
do considerable substitute service in the occasional absence of regu- 
lar teachers. The seniors detailed to such service are those that can 
best be spared from class instruction in the school. 

In order to retain their membership and be graduated, the students 
have been required to maintain an average of 70%, but during the 
past year the passing mark has been raised to 80%. This raising of 
the standard has tended to eliminate several from the school. Of 
the class of 1913, — the class that entered in September, 1911, — nine 
bave already dropped out by the advice of the teachers or because of 
actual failure to do satisfactory work. 

The graduates of the Oity Normal School are appointed to posi- 
tions in the city schools in the order of their standing at the close 
of their course. In this way all graduates have been able to secure 
positions in the Bridgeport schools within a year after graduation. 

Until within two or three years, the City Normal School sup- 
plied nearly all the teachers needed in the elementary schools, but 
during the past two or three years, from five to ten teachers have 
been secured from outside the city limits. 

Comments. 

Visits to the school, conferences with the principal and critics, 
observation of the work by teachers and students, lead one to value 
highly the spirit and efforts of all. The principal and critics have 
full notes and outlines of each subject. Some of the books used as 
authority on special topics, however, are by no means up to date. 

The work is well organized and is carried out as well as could 
be expected under existing conditions. The students are mature, in- 
terested, alert, striving hard to make the most of their opportunities. 

Owing, in a measure, to the lack of proper school accommoda- 
tions, the instruction is to a very considerable extent embodied in 
the dictation of notes, outlines, and definitions. There is lacking such 
a course in English as the pupil-teachers need for their professional 

49 



equipment. The students of each class recite in a single division 
practically all day. There is little opportunity for research and study 
at the school building. 

The Normal School has no responsibility for its graduates even 
during the first few critical months of their experience as teachers. 
During this time they need expert help, either from the Normal School 
or from the office of supervision. 

Defects. 

1. The building' as now used is Avholly unsuited to the purposes 
of a training school for teachers. It was built more than twenty 
years ago. Classes of the elementary grades occupy all of the rooms 
except the one reserved for the use of the normal students. The 
ground floor hallway is dark; the top floor is a large assembly hall, 
but little used. The building has: 

(a) No room for a kindergarten. There is a serious omission. 
The kindergarten is now an integral part of our public school sys- 
tem, and city training schools should afford an opportunity to study 
at first-hand a well-managed kindergarten. Through it the teachers, 
especially those placed in charge of the lower grades, may become 
thoroughly imbued with the spirit of the kindergarten. 

(b) No room for classes of drawing. Drawing can be taught to 
advantage only when a suitable room and equipment are provided. 
The present class room is unsuited to the purpose as regards tables, 
desks, seats, and light. 

(c) No room for the library and study. The text and reference 
books, some 1400, are in cases under the windows where it is diffi- 
cult to read the titles, to make a selection, and to use them to ad- 
vantage. A larger and more modern collection of reference books is 
very much needed, and a room should be set aside, furnished with 
chairs, tables, and bookcases, where the books can be consulted 
readily. 

(d) No science room. In this room there should be a modern 
equipment for the proper teaching of elementary science, nature 
study, and geography, — tables, movable chairs, demonstration tables 
with gas, electricity, and running water; maps, charts, globes, lan- 
tern and slides, display and storage cabinets, aquaria, and various col- 
lections for illustrative purposes. 

(e) No manual training room. In this room there should be 
accommodations for instruction in raffia, cardboard, elementary wood- 
work, and sewing. And for the boys and girls in higher elementary 
grades, accommodations should be provided for instruction in shop 
work and cooking. 

(f) No gymnasium. Physical training has assumed a large place 
of late in a well-organized system of schools. The instruction in 
this line in the Bridgeport Normal School, from necessity, is most'y 
dictation and note-taking. It should be largely practical demonst-a- 

50 



tions in a gymnasium. In this work most clearly we learn to do by 
doing; we can teach, well only when we can demonstrate the move- 
ments and exercises in a satisfactory manner. This training would 
develop in the students, in a marked way, grace and strength, and 
should improve their health very perceptibly. 

(g) JVo playroom. Ample accommodations should be provided 
for play activities. Such a room could be used by the pupils of the 
practice school, and by the students of the Normal School in learn- 
ing to direct organized play. 

2. There is little opportunity for the observation of model work. 

Teachers in training should have an opportunity to observe the regu- 
lar grade work of superior teachers. Observation of teaching exer- 
cises conducted by other students, or specially prepared lessons with 
groups of children conducted by one of the critics, do not sufficiently 
serve the purpose. A model school connected with a normal school 
should afford the coming teachers an opportunity to observe first- 
class work carried on connectedly day by day, — work that brings re- 
sults and is worthy of emulation. 

3. There is ho opportunity to observe the management and activi- 
ties of a special class for exceptional children — retarded, mental de- 
fectives, voice defectives, crippled or anemic. At least one or two of 
these classes should be in the training school building or in some 
nearby building, so that the coming teachers may be led into a sym- 
pathetic acquaintance with exceptional cases and the best methods 
to pursue in their education and training. 

4. The practice teaching can be better organized. By the pres- 
ent plan the juniors are placed in charge of elementary classes, under 
the supervision of critics, for the afternoons of the second term. This 
assignment is made before the students are at all well prepared for 
teaching. And the teaching experience in the school cannot afford 
an adequate test of the pupil-teacher's ability to teach or to disci- 
pline. 

5. A Tery limited supply of apparatus and illustrative material 
is provided. In a training school for teachers there should be a com- 
plete equipment of illustrative material in order that coming teach- 
ers may know and appreciate what helps are available in a well- 
organized school. 

One reason for the scarcity of these helps is no doubt the limited 
storage conveniences and the lack of a room for their display and use. 

6. The entrance requirements are too easy. Mere graduation 
from a high school is not sufficient. There should be a thorough 
written examination on the principal subjects of the high school 
course and on the departmental subjects of the elementary school 
course. A high standard of scholarship should be insisted upon as 
a prerequisite of entrance, even if an examination eliminates one- 

51 



third or moie of the candidates. Such an examination would react 
upon the high school and lead to more accurate scholarship in that 
school. 

And a thorough physical examination of each candidate should 
be made by a city physician employed for the purpose. The heart, 
lungs, blood, urine, hearing, and sight, should receive close attention 
by a competent medical expert. 

Recommendations. 

1. Provide suitable accommodations for a city training school 
for teachers, either by making the necessary changes in the present 
building on Clinton Avenue and providing for it a proper equipment, 
or by devoting to this purpose one of the new buildings soon to be 
erected. 

In case it is deemed best for the training school for teachers 
to remain where it is, 

Vacate four rooms on the third floor and transfer the higher 
grade pupils of the elementary school to neighboring schools; equip 
the rooms thus vacated, one as a gymnasium, one as a library, one as 
a science room for classes in nature study, elementary science, and 
geography, and one as a room for classes an drawing. Use the re- 
maining rooms in the building for classes of pupils in grades below 
the sixth year. Use the portable building in the rear for a kinder- 
garten class. 

2. Make the present practice school a model school and place the 
best teachers available in charge of the classes. They should be paid 
a higher salary than is paid teachers in other schools because of the 
greater responsibility of the position. This school should be used as 
a school for observation. In this way a series of systematic ob- 
servation lessons may be planned for the juniors, two hours per week, 
a portion of which time might properly be used in assisting the class 
teachers by instructing groups of pupils and by coaching slow and 
backward pupils. 

A first class model school is a good school for teachers in the 
grades to visit occasionally. 

3. Arrange with four or five neighboring schools for opportuni- 
ties for practice-teaching, three seniors and a critic to be assigned 
to three classes in each of the several school buildings. By this ar- 
rangement, there will be a saving in the salaries of fifteen or eighteen 
teachers, which will much more than offset the extra expense of em- 
ploying skilled teachers in the model school. In this way the teach- 
ing experience of the pupil-teachers can be made much more valu- 
able. If they are shifted from one school to another at the close 
of the first term, they will gain experience under normal conditions • 
they will be supervised by at least two critics, and the critic teach- 
ers will see that the children suffer no loss by these changes. 

52 



4. Insist upon a high standard for entrance to the City Normal 
School, and limit the number of admissions to fifteen or eighteen to 
each class. Add to the faculty a college graduate who has specialized 
in the teaching of English. By raising the standard 
of scholarship, and by limiting the number of 
admissions each year, a better trained product will 
be available for service in the teaching ranks. Any attempt to train 
in the City Normal School all of the teachers needed from year to 
year is a great mistake. There can be no greater misfortune to any 
school system than to have a steady inbreeding of home talent. The 
Board of Education should insist upon the selection of at least one- 
third of the new teachers each year from outside the city limits, or 
from other training schools than the Bridgeport City Normal School. 
New blood, new ideas, different courses of training, will bring new 
life and enthusiasm into the entire teaching body. 

It should be kept clearly in mind that the schools exist solely 
for the children. Whether the teachers live in Bridgeport or Nova 
Scotia, whether they were trained at home or away, whether their 
fathers pay taxes or not, is of no consequence. The children deserve 
the best teachers that it is possible to secure for the money available. 



YII. THE HIGH SCHOOL. 

The present high school building is now quite inadequate to 
house the school properly, and unequipped for proper instruction in 
the present courses of study and unadapted for the introduction of the 
needed new work. As this is fully acknowledged, the defects in the 
building itself need not be stated. 

Many of the obvious weaknesses of the school on the educational 
side are direct consequences of the unhappy physical conditions under 
which the work is being conducted. 

Equipment. 

The equipment is absolutely inadequate even for the work now 
undertaken. There is need of equipment in science, in the commercial 
department and in history. There is need of library, shops and gym- 
nasium. There is need of improved and additional textbooks. 

A striking handicap upon a very important class of pupils occurs 
in the case of the group of normal preparatory girls taking physics. 
In the absence of proper room and adequate equipment, the instruc- 
tor faces the alternative of giving laboratory work to the normal pre- 
paratory class or to the college preparatory class; and he has not 
unnaturally chosen to give the advantage to the pupils bound for 
college. 

The limitations of the present buildings preclude to a consider- 
able extent the installation and effective use of such equipment as 
the school should have. 

53 



The Program of Studies — Recommendations. 

1. Develop the present commercial course into a coherent four- 
year course, instead of the present three-year course with an extra 
"optional" year (on paper) that no pupil takes because it is not se- 
riously offered. 

2. Arrange the first two years of this course, or construct a more 
or less independent two-year course, so as to offer alongside the full 
commercial course a short clerkship course of two years' training. 

3. The subjects placed in the third and fourth years of the 
school program as reviews of college preparatory work (algebra, 
geometry, ancient history) amount to mere coaching classes for the 
college entrance examinations, and, if retained, should be taken only 
by pupils actually going to college, so that others could apply this 
time more profitably. 

4. Discontinue Greek. It is not required for college prep- 
aration and is being taken by extremely few pupils. Its retention 
in the course involves an extravagant use of teacher time dn view 
of the greater needs of the school. 

5. Arrange the first two years of the Latin work of the school 
so as to form a rounded two-year course in Latin (including an at- 
tractive and varied second year assignment in place of the four 
books of Caesar's Gallic War) for the advantage of pupils not going 
to college but wishing the benefit of the two years of Latin. 

(The following recommendations relating to industrial courses 
are intended to apply a year hence, or whenever the new building, 
now assured, shall be ready for occupancy.) 

The present "industrial" and "domestic art" courses are in need of 
development, hence: 

6. Construct a full four-year industrial course related to the 
major industries of the city. Arrange the first two years of thds 
course so as to offer a short industrial course for boys of fourteen 
to sixteen years of age, and particularly in the interest of those who 
will leave at the age of sixteen. 

7. Construct a full four-year domestic science course. Arrange 
the first two years of this course so as to offer a short domestic 
science course to girls of fourteen to sixteen years of age who will 
leave school at the age of sixteen. 

Arrange these courses as a unified department of the High 
School, to be known as "The Industrial Department." See p. 58. 

Teaching' Staff. 

Here one applies the tests: (1) Individual scholastic equip- 
ment and personal power; (2) Efficiency of classroom method and 
management; (3) co-operation and esprit de corps; (4) Actual re- 
sults in the habits and attainments of the pupils. 

As to individual scholastic equipment, the faculty, with only 
a very few exceptions, have records indicating adequate attainments. 

54 



The academic degrees held by most of the members of the. 
faculty were awarded by such colleges as Yale, Williams, Wesleyan, 
Cornell, Smith, Harvard, Columbia, Mt. Holyoke, Wellesley,*' and 
Middlebury. Seven members of the faculty are Masters of Arts from 
Yale, Wesleyan, Columbia, or Univarsity of Cincinnati; and one is 
a Doctor of Philosophy of Yale. 

In the matter of personal power, classroom efficiency, and 
actual results being attained, the faculty appears to be on the 
whole a satisfactory corps, but not a distinctly strong corps. Though 
further examination might establish a different result, the grouping 
seems to be: Apparently possessing special merit, 4; apparently satis- 
factory, 21; seemingly doubtful cases, 3; apparently unsatisfactory, 3; 
—total, 31. 

To this corps should be added in the new school laboratory 
assistants for the science teachers, a regular librarian for a regular 
library, teachers of physical education, as well as teachers for the 
new academic and industrial subjects that may be introduced. 

It is a pleasure to record the kindly and interested attitude 
of the teachers and their evident good will toward the pupils. And 
to the systematic and encouraging manner of the teachers, the 
pupils show a responsiveness that makes for good discipline in 
classrooms and steady progress in their studies. Furthermore, all 
the teachers seem desirous of rendering industrious, loyal service 
to the school. 

On the other hand, in visiting classrooms and observing actual 
teaching exercises throughout the school, one notes 'insufficient at- 
tention to the technique of the recitation and the principles of class 
teaching. In some cases a teacher's questioning was conducted in a 
slow and halting manner. Again the questions were of a rather 
rambling character instead of being logically sequential. Frequently 
the suggestive question was used, and the teacher's questions and 
comments together amounted practically to reciting for the pupils. 
Particular pupils were made to respond to questioning for an over- 
long time, so that too. few of the class participated in the exercise; 
and there was opportunity for the majority 'to indulge in mind-wan- 
dering and to lose interest in the recitation. Often questions were 
so framed as to require merely monosyllabic answers from the pupils, 
when more skillful phrasing of the question would have elicited 
more educative responses. Some teachers permitted the answering 
and discussion to come almost entirely from volunteers, with the result 
that repeated responses were given by certain pupils while others 
contributed nothing, and might have been not even giving attention 
to the matter in hand. In some upper class work the teacher's 
questions and comments obviously indicated the aim of direct coach- 
ing for college entrance examinations instead of making the most 
educative use of the subject matter. Only exceptionally did the 
teacher appear to realize the value of attention to the assignment 
of work to be done in preparation for the next recitation period, 

55 



although It is -well known that neglect of the assignment means losa 
of opportunity to secure good attack upon home work and application 
exercises. 

The conclusion to be drawn from the foregoing observations is 
that the average level of teaching efficiency in the school should 
be higher than it appears to be. Certainly much improvement could 
be effected by sympathetic, persistent, and capable supervision of the 
helpful and constructive sort. In this school, as in many high schools 
there is need of bringing teachers to realize the fact that, in order 
to make the most efficient use of the recitation time, the teacher 
must not only master the content of the subject to be taught but he 
must also study assiduously the art of presenting the subject in class 
instruction. 



Vocational Guidance. 

Something should be undertaken in this direction. What is now 
being done in various places may seem excessively crude and awk- 
ward, but the movement has great possibilities; and already it has 
done the important thing of drawing some attention off the subjects 
of the curriculum to direct attention toward the boy and girl, with 
the excellent result that the need of considering their individualities 
is being felt. The present hit or miss method of taking jobs and 
eventually finding or not finding a calling, must be reformed; and 
the public school (in co-operation with the bureau for granting work 
permits) appears to be society's most available agency for effecting 
this reform. 



Administration. 

The principal should have a clerk on full time assistance, and 
then this clerk should be kept fully occupied in order to: (1) ac- 
complish much more in records, reports, statistics, etc., than is now 
done; (2) to set the principal free from the office for actual super- 
vision of the school and improvement of the educational results be- 
ing attained. 

Although the discipline of the school is undoubtedly good, cer- 
tain improvements may be suggested. The hall order during changes 
of classes would be better if running along halls and on stairways 
were absolutely forbidden, and if the talking permitted during the 
changes were kept within more moderate tones. In some rooms 
there is unreasonable noisiness and over-loud talking during the few 
minutes before the signal for the beginning of recitations is given. 
It is not pleasant to see the pupils in room after room rising in- 
stantly and hurrying from the room on the stroke of the bell, instead 
of awaiting a dismissal signal from the teacher. 

56 



With thirty-one assistant teachers for a school of about 850 pupils 
the average number of pupils per teacher is kept down to a satis- 
factory ratio. It may be questioned, however, whether the arrange- 
ment of the pupils into recitation classes has been as evenly made 
•as was possible. In the task of constructing the school schedule for 
each semester the principal should have the assistance of a selected 
teacher who should receive extra compensation for the extra service 
rendered. The schedule distinction between prepared and unprepared 
periods is not strictly 'followed as the instruction actually goes on; 
and the question arises, whether this distinction may not advan- 
tageously be abandoned. Such a. step would be followed by an im- 
proved mode of counting credits for diploma. The present plan of 
excusing from the semester examinations those pupils who have 
term averages above a certain mark is open to question in view of 
the fact that at least some of the teachers consider that some ex- 
cased pupils ought not to have been excused. There appears to be 
an undue amount of attention to marking, tests and semester exam- 
inations, but as long as these examinations are held, they should be 
conducted as exercises having definite value in the curriculum; and 
no pupils should be excused from them. The mode of enrolling pu- 
pils in each of the four years of the school seems peculiar in view 
of the fact that a pupil does not get second year enrollment until he 
has passed every item of his first year's work, nor third year en- 
rollment until he has passed all the second year, and so on. It 
would seem that a pupil is entitled to the higher enrollment as soon 
as he has passed more than half of the lower year's assignment; and 
this mode of enrolling would encourage pupils to go further through 
the course, and would also represent more truly the attainments of 
pupils and their progress toward the diploma. 

With additional clerical assistance to relieve the principal of 
routine matters and petty details, he could get into close touch with 
the actual teaching of his assistants, so as to unify and elevate the 
aims of instruction in the various departments, and improve the reci- 
tation work throughout the school. By setting an example of pro- 
gressiveness, assuming professional leadership, stimulating a faculty 
to do their best work, a principal can improve the attitude and the 
work of even his weakest teacher. In the matter of textbooks, for 
example, some of the texts in use in the high school are by no means 
the best now available; yet where the pupils furnish their own books 
it would appear to be exceptionally easy to keep the textbooks abso- 
lutely up to date. Teachers must be kept informed about new books, 
new apparatus, improved historical and literary materials for school 
use; for even if much of this new equipment were not obtainable 
because of lack of funds, the teachers are sure to get new and valu- 
able ideas from continual examination of the latest teaching para- 
phernalia. Faculty meetings also, and particularly departmental 
conferences, can be made occasions for lively professional discus- 
sions, instead of being uninteresting sessions for the settlement of 
petty disciplinary and routine matters. 

57 



General Impressions of the High School. 

Extremely parsimonious administration. A school body of boys 
and girls exhibiting great possibilities, but sadly limited in the edu- 
cational experience actually open to them. 

A corps of teachers not markedly progressive as a whole, though 
noteworthy exceptions stand out. 

Certainly a principal cause of the weaknesses that appear to 
characterize the school is to be found in the extremely unfavorable 
conditions as to building and equipment under which the school is 
being conducted in a practically continuous hurrying of recitations 
from early in the morning until late in the afternoon. 



Future Extension of High School Opportunities. 

The enrollment at the High School is less than one-half as great 
as it should be in a city of Bridgeport's size. 

Doubtless the unsatisfactory conditions under which the high 
school work is carried on at present will account for this in part. 

It is evident, however, that features are lacking which in a high 
school in an industrial city are indispensable. The industries need 
trained superintendents and foremen of departments and draftsmen. 
The High School ought to aim to furnish them, and the boys and girls 
of the city who are so minded should find in the public high school 
opportunity to prepare for such positions of responsibility while get- 
ting a thoroughly good general education. 

The new high school building, the erection of which on a ffln- 
tral site is now assured, should afford such opportunities in its In- 
dustrial department. The following recommendations are made for 

the development of such a department: 

The Industrial Department. 

The industrial department should be established for the benefit 
of pupils who are ambitious enough to desire a high school education, 
out who expect to go to work at the close of the high school course 
The demand for preparation for technical colleges should be encour- 
aged, but this demand is met by the classical department. College 
preparation should not be the aim of the industrial department. Its 
main object should be to give a high school training that has a real 
bearing on the life which these children are going to live. 

Throughout the department, the work should be intensely prac- 
tical,— the value of a complete forge shop is questionable; courses 
consisting of a series of exercises or models would not function; the 
usual type of wood turning course would have little place in a Bridge- 

58 



port high school. Mechanical drawing, however, should be a very 
Important feature and should be conducted on the basis of a thor- 
oughly modern industrial draughting room. Courses in pattern-mak- 
ing, foundry work, and machine work can all be made to serve the 
demands of this department. 

The shops should be distinctly industrial, both as to arrange- 
ment of their equipment and the type of work done in them. The 
boys should be given experiences in producing actual machines, en- 
gines, or motors, from the making of the drawing and the pattern, 
to the completion of the project in the machine shop. The girls 
should have real dressmaking, real millinery, and real housekeep- 
ing, rather than laboratory exercises. 

The equipment of this department will require approximately 
twenty thousand (20,000) feet of floor space, and will involve an ex- 
penditure of about twenty thousand ($20,000) dollars. 

There are few technical high schools in the United States which 
serve the purpose which needs to be served by the industrial depart- 
ment of the Bridgeport High School. It is not safe, therefore, to copy 
technical high schools of other cities. 

Bridgeport needs to develop high school industrial training of 
the type adapted to her own particular needs. 

Bough Estimate for Industrial Equipment, 



For Machine Shop, 


$12,000 


4000 


to 6000 sq. ft. 


" Wood Shop, 


3,000 




6000 " " 


" Foundry, 


1,000 




2000 " " 


" Cooking, 


1,00-0 




1200 " " 


" Sewing, 


750 




1800 " " 


" Drawing, 


1,000 




2000 " " 




$18,750 


19000 " '* 


Maximum cost, 


$20,000 




20000 sq. ft 



Academic Work. 

The class work should not be a duplication of that given in the 
classical department, but should consist of special courses given by 
special teachers. The subjects should be: 

1. English 

2. Applied Mathematics 

3. Industrial History 

4. Civics 

5. Physiology and Hygiene 

59 



Laboratory Work — Boys. 

The laboratory work for boys should be distinctly industrial. 
Those phases of physics should be selected which have industrial ap- 
plications such as: 

1. Testing of metals, cements, woods, etc. 

2. Effects of heat on metals 

3. Distribution of power 

(a) Mechanical 

(b) Electrical 

4. Chemical reactions most used in local industries 

Laboratory Work — Girls. 

Laboratory work for girls should apply to domestic science and 
deal with: 

1. Foods, — elements, chemistry of 

2. Textiles, — sources, tests, properties 

3. Sanitation 

Shop Work. 

First Half Second Half 

FIRST YEAR. 

Wood work Pattern making 

1. Simple projects 

(that are needed) 

2. Study of wood trusses 

(with tests) 

3. Concrete forms 

(with study of concrete) 
Mechanical drawing, partially related to shop work. 

First Half Second Half 

SECOND YEAR. 

Pattern making Foundry work 

Mechanical drawing, partially related to shop work. 

First Half Second Half 

THIRD YEAR. 

Machine work Machine work 

Mechanical drawing, partially related to shop work. 

First Half Second Half 

FOURTH YEAR. 

Machine work Machine work 

Mechanical drawing, partially related to shop work. 

Each student should participate in carrying some one project 
from the drawing room through all of the departments, as, for In- 
stance, a gas engine, an ice machine, an electric motor. 

60 



Electives should be permitted In the third and fourth years for 
specializing in drafting, architectural drawing, wood working, or 
electrical construction. 

Domestic Work — Girls. 
Sewing (plain) 
Cooking 
Dressmaking 

Millinery 
Applied design 
Costume design 
Household accounts 
General housekeeping 
Electives should be permitted in the third and fourth years for 
specializing in advanced domestic science, domestic art, or designing. 



YITI. THE INDUSTRIES OF BRIDGEPORT. 

A scheme of education that ignores the circumstances surround- 
ing the individual is misdirected and wasteful. Education is not 
limited to the acquisition of knowledge that is stored up in books. It 
is more than this. It is in part the adjustment of the individual to 
his environment, and in part fitting the individual to improve his en- 
vironment; the more real the adjustment, and the greater the intelli- 
gence, the more efficient the education. 

The majority of workers in Bridgeport are employed in manu- 
facturing. A great proportion of the children will go into the fac- 
tories and shops when they leave school. Each month about 150 chil- 
dren apply for working certificates, seeking to take their places In 
the life of the city. If an intelligent report is to be made on the 
school system of Bridgeport, it is just as important to study the in- 
dustries as it is to study the schools. All that has been said upon 
the subject of industrial education, and all that follows relating to 
that topic, is based upon as careful study of the industries of Bridge- 
port as has been made of its schools. 

Conditions of Employment. 

The industrial conditions in Bridgeport are largely the result of 
the development of automatic machinery which has led to the estab- 
lishment of many manufacturing plants in the city. There is a great 
variety of output, including automobiles, brass tubing and castings, 
corsets, electrical fixtures, electric cable, cartridges, hardware, ma- 
chine tools, automatic machines, silverware, textiles, typewriters, talk- 
ing machines, valves, paper boxes, etc., etc. In spite of this variety 
of output, there is much similarity in the operations necessary to 

61 



produce it; the use of metal predominates; the machinist, as a me- 
chanic, is at the bottom of all production, — his hand is seen in the 
building of machines to equip plants, and his presence is needed in 
the tool-rooms which are maintained by all the large plants. 

The development of the automatic industries has opened up a 
large field of unskilled labor for boys and girls in operating presses 
and automatic machines. This is attractive to them because it offers 
better pay for beginners than other lines of work. The children who 
enter this field are usually the retarded children who leave school 
from the lower grades, and they have little difficulty in finding work 
of this kind. Girls are more desired, and receive better pay than 
boys doing similar work. Their work is more satisfactory, they stand 
the monotony better, require less watching, and are more steady and 
less careless than the boys. This applies especially to plants in which 
the output is controlled by the speed of machines, and which are run 
on a piece-work basis. Boys are employed in certain cases, because 
the concerns cannot pay the wages which the girls are able to demand. 
For instance, girls operating machines on a piece-work basis receive 
from six to ten dollars per week, the boys in parallel lines receiving 
only from five to six dollars per week. The apparent advantages <pt 
the field of unskilled labor, namely, good pay at the start, the need 
of little previous training and the ease of securing employment, are 
more than counterbalanced by the disadvantages, which are that the 
work offers little or no advancement; it is entirely automatic, so 
preventing mental development; and in later years, when nimbleness 
and speed are lost, the worker often cannot find any profitable em- 
ployment. 

A much better, though somewhat limited field for the young 
workers is offered by the recognized trades. These are usually en- 
tered, through apprenticeship, but can be entered also by the aid of 
special schools co-operating with the shops, or even by "stealing the 
trade." Though the pay is smaller at the beginning, and the worker 
must be from the non-retarded class, and from sixteen to eighteen 
years of age, this way leads to the acquisition of a skilled trade, be- 
sides developing the all-round ability of the worker, and gives the 
prospect of future advancement. 

There is another line of skilled work open to boys, which is 
quite distinct from the well known trades. It may be called "assem- 
bling and adjusting," and offers a large field in Bridgeport. A boy 
should begin early at this work, for mechanical training in general 
is of no assistance; the work depends on nimbleness of fingers and 
acquaintance with the details of the product, rather than on general 
mechanical ability. In many important lines, this work is classed as 
skilled, and has a good future prospect. 

Another field outside of the shops and factories is to be found 
In stores and commercial houses. These employ, on the average, a 
better grade of help than is employed by the shops and factories. 
The records of the State Agent who issues working certificates show 

62 



that in most cases the large majority of children in the shops have 
been retarded in school; whereas the stores take boys and girls from 
higher grades, and the ages of these children indicate that most of 
them are bright children who passed through their schools without 
retardation. 

Working Certification. 

Connecticut is progressive in her child employment law. Every 
child wishing to enter employment under the age of sixteen must 
obtain a certificate from one of the State Agents; in order to secure 
this he must give evidence that he is fourteen years old, that he can 
read and write and solve examples in whole numbers and fractions; 
no certificate is issued to a child who appears to be physically unfit 
for employment. The name of every child who receives a certificate, 
together with his place of employment, is kept on record until he has 
completed his sixteenth year. The employer must send a notice to 
the State Agent's office when a child is employed and when the child 
leaves his employ; and, at each change of employment, the child 
must obtain a new certificate. If a new position is not reported in 
one week, a letter is sent to the child's parent or guardian, asking 
for a report as to his employment. If no satisfactory reply is made, 
the Agent is sent to investigate. 

The Bridgeport Agent has carried out the law so efficiently that 
out of 3000 children looked after in the Bridgeport district, only four, 
it is said, have proved to be chronic loafers. A marked decrease in 
the number of children on the streets has become apparent, and both 
parents and children have come to realize that all children between 
the ages of fourteen and sixteen must be either in school or at work 
and properly certificated; and that the State has a system and the 
machinery for knowing where the children are. 

There are, however, certain improvements to be recommended, if 
the city is to realize the full benefit of this system. The State law 
permits a city to establish the grade that a child must complete be- 
fore taking out working papers. Under this act a city school board 
may require the child to complete a certain grade in addition to 
meeting the state requirements of reading, writing, and arithmetic. 
Many cities have acted on this provision with varying standards, but 
the Bridgeport School Board has not taken any action. As a result, 
children from the third, fourth, and fifth grades are applying for 
working certificates, although some have to hire tutors to enable 
them to pass the Agent's examinations. The Bridgeport Agent has 
recently ruled that applicants shall have reached the fifth grade, but 
this means that only the fourth must be completed. For the protec- 
tion of the efficiency of the Bridgeport school system, it would seem 
essential that a fairly high grade requirement be established; and for 
the protection of children against going to work before they are 
qualified to meet the serious task of earning a living and becoming 
American citizens, the completion of the sixth grade is the lowest 

63 



advisable requirement. The completion of the fifth grade might, 
however, be the extent of the requirement for a year or two. 

Another development, much to be desired, is the establishment 
of special classes for the foreign born and backward children. At 
present there is no provision in the Bridgeport school system for 
these children; regardless of age they must take their places an the 
grades according to academic standards. In justice to the foreign born 
cbildren who come to Bridgeport, and in justice to the young children in 
the lower grades, there should be classes for meeting the needs of these 
handicapped, but by no means stupid, children. It ds exploitation if 
they are given working papers before they have their educational 
equipment, and it is a hindrance to the progress of the lower grade 
classes to have these older children in them. 

It would be well, also, if the law controlling the Issuance of 
working certificates could be extended to include other classes of 
children. At present it can be made to apply only to those in me- 
chanical, mercantile, and manufacturing trades. It is the group of 
children going into "blind alley" occupations, — the boys who set up 
pins in bowling alleys, usher in moving-picture shows or theatres, 
messengers, newsboys, — these are the children who most need pro- 
tection. 

Finally, much good could be accomplished by closer relations 
between the School Department and the State Agent's office. The 
bchools should know when a child has received working papers, and 
the Agent would profit by a knowledge of the child's school history. 
A very great help would be the establishment of a vocational guid- 
ance department which would act in conjunction with the School 
Board and the State Agent's office. The value of such a department 
has been alluded to in connection with the High School. 



Summary of Tabulation of Working Certificates in Bridgeport, com- 
piled from data in the State Agent's Office: 

September, 1911, to December, 1912, inclusive. 

Total number issued to boys 1244 

Total number issued to girls 953 

2197 

Total number given to those 14 years old 1192 

Total number given to those 15 years old 972 

Total number given to those 16 years old . 51 

2215 

Discrepancy „ 18 

64 



Nationality of foreign born: ....... 

Austrians, Hungarians ". '. . . . . 138 

Italians ............ .... ... ..... . 122 

Russians , 44 

English 31 

Germans 12 

Norwegians, Swedish 11 

Canadians 9 

Irish 9 

Scotch 5 

Polish 5 

Turkish, Syrians 4 

Bohemians 2 

Spanish 1 

Total number of foreign born . . . 393 

Total number employed in factories 1476 

Total number employed in stores 465 

Number of certificates issued to children from the — 

Second grade 10 

Third grade 49 

Fourth grade 192 

Fifth grade 564 

Sixth grade 541 

Seventh grade . 401 

Eighth grade 169 

High school 57 

Ungraded 200 

Total 2183 

Discrepancy 32 

Eelation of the Schools to the Conditions of Employment. 

If the schools are to meet the needs of the people of Bridgeport, 
what are they doing in preparing the children for the industrial and 
commercial life of the city? What kind of training are they offering 
to children who have reached fourteen, the age of certification, and 
are leaving school and joining the ranks of unskilled labor? These 
questions are of vital importance if the schools are to serve the in- 
dustrial needs of a people whose main occupations are of a mechanical 
or commercial nature. 

65 



The schools have been notably conservative. As the industries 
and business life of the city have undergone changes almost revo- 
lutionary the schools have made but few concessions to these new 
conditions of life. Drawing, to be sure, has been introduced owing 
to pressure from the industrial field but it has now lost its vocational 
significance. Cooking and manual training have been given the place 
in the school system which is usually assigned to these subjects 
elsewhere without much emphasis upon their industrial significance. 

Very little can be pointed out in the school curriculum that 
indicates a real adjustment to the industrial life of the community, 
or, what is equivalent, the most imperative needs of the majority 
of the children. Reading, writing and arithmetic are necessary for 
all, of course, and, for those going early into industrial life they 
are their vocational equipment; but these subjects need concrete 
applications to be taught effectively. Children are not successful 
in applying fundamental principles to concrete instances without 
being taught definitely how to make the applications. At present 
the schools are giving the fundamental principles, but are not 
looking to the activities of the local community for the application. 

All children are put through the same processes regardless of 
their future prospects. Even if all were going to remain through 
the eight grades of the elementary course and enter the high school, 
this plan could not be fully defended, but the facts afford no justifi- 
cation for the prevailing practice. A very large majority of the 
children leave school early and go into definite lines of employment, 
a circumstance which has little, if any, effect in shaping the scheme 
of studies for the grammar grades. 



Hand Work and Household Management. 

Bridgeport is a city of workers. To make the school life reflect 
the activities of the city practical work must be introduced into the 
school system. The school system can adjust itself to the present 
industrial situation in one respect by making local applications of 
the bookwork and . by organizing hand work throughout the eight 
grades. The handwork should be planned to give the children 
a series of experiences in the use of varied materials and processes 
that will acquaint them with the activities of the city. Real things 
made by the children offer the best opportunities for teaching the 
three "R's" for they make plain to the child that the three "R's" 
have application to the affairs of real life. Hand work makes the 
work of the school seem real to the child and gives him an intro- 
duction to the world outside the school. His thought is stimulated, 
his ingenuity is aroused, and school means happy experience in- 
ftead of monotonous drill. 



66 



Following is a suggestive outline of hand work for all grades: 
HAND WORK FOR GRADES I TO V. 
Boys and Girls — in Classroom with Regular Teacher. 
GRADE VI. 

Problems in construction representing 

1. The Home 

2. Scenes from Stories 

3. History 

4. Neighborhoods 

5. Handicrafts 

6. Textiles 



enting Materials to be used. 


1. 


Paper 


2. 


Cardboard 


3. 


Wood 


4. 


Clay 


5. 


Cement 


6. 


Plaster 


7. 


Textiles 


8. 


Colors 


■IVz Hours Per Week. 


Materials used. 


1. 


Metal 


2. 


Wood 



Shop Work for Boys- 
Mechanical studies as 

1. Elevators 

2. Cranes 

3. Water Motors 

4. Model Machines 

5. Model Framing 

For Girls — \% hours per week. 

First half year Sewing Second half year .... Cooking 

GRADE VII. 

Shop work for Boys — V& hours per week. 

Concrete work (forms made of wood) Materials used. 

Foundry work Wood 

Flask Metal 

Tools Cement 

Soft casting 

Railroad models 

Boat models 

For Girls — lYz hours per week. 

First half year Sewing Second half year Cooking 

GRADE VIII. 

Shop work for hoys — V&, hours per week. 
Wood problems in the making of Processes taught 

furniture or Metal beating 

A problem in metal as Soldering 

Model steam turbine Drilling 

Sheet copper and Punching 

Brass working Filing 

Threading 

For girls — V& hours per week. 

First half year Sewing Second half year Cooking 

67 



Besides giving a boy general information and mechanical experi- 
ence, a scheme of this sort, with its variety of processes and ma- 
terials, is affording him a try-out experience, to determine what his 
tendencies are, and what ability he shows as a young boy. Many 
boys have found themselves , and learned what lines of work they 
should or should not go into by experience of this sort. 

The girls in the sixth, seventh and eighth grades are in as great 
need of practical work as the boys, though of course of a different 
type. Whether our girls are going on through high school or whether 
they are going into the shops when fourteen, they are ultimately to 
be managers of households. One of the greatest social services that 
the school can render, therefore, is to give them some practical ex- 
perience looking toward the wise management of a home. In school 
they should have real problems in sewing and cooking; they should 
be taught household sanitation, proper methods of cleaning, and 
practical hygiene. This means taking problems such as exist in the 
average home and working them out in school. In order that every 
girl may receive a fair share of cooking and sewing, it is proposed 
that a semester should be given to each, in alternation, through these 
three grades. 

Additional shops and cooking centers will be needed to handle 
this work effectively, and the teaching force must neces- 
sarily be increased. It will require three men teachers to give the 
boys of the sixth, seventh and eighth grades shop training for one 
and one-half hours per week. Two cooking teachers and two sewing 
teachers will be needed to instruct the girls. Five shop centers 
and four cooking centers will probably be needed. The sewing can 
be done in the class room. This work should be done within the 
regular school hours and should not, as is the practice at present, 
begin earlier and continue later than the regular school sessions. 

Five shop centers are needed. They should be located as fol- 
lows: 

The first center at School No. 3. One man in four days will cover 
Schools No. 3, No. 4, No. 5 and N6. 23. 

The second center at School No. 1. One man in three days will 
cover Schools No. 1, No. 6, and No. 7. 

The third center at School No. 10. One man in two days will 
cover Schools No. 8, No. 9, and No. 10. 

The fourth center at School No. 14. One man in four days will 
cover Schools No. 12, No. 13, No. 14, No. 16, No. 17, and No. 18. 

The fifth center at School No. 19. One man in two days will 
cover Schools No. 19, No. 20, and No. 22. 

Four cooking centers are needed. They should be located as 
follows: 

The first center, at School No. 3. One teacher in two and one- 
half days will cover Schools No. 3, No. 4, No. 5, and No. 23. 

68 



The second center at School No. 7 (as now located). One teacher 
in two and one-half days will cover Schools No.- 1, No. 6, No.. 7, No. 
8, No. 9, and No. 10. 

The third center at School No. 14. One teacher in three days 
will cover Schools No. 12, No. 13, No. 14, No. 16, No. 17, and No. 18. 

The fourth center at School No. 19. One teacher in two days 
Will cover schools No. 19, No. 20, and No. 22. 

Prevocational Work. 

A study of the situation in Bridgeport discloses an imperative 
need for prevoeafcional training for those children who must leave 
school as soon as they reach the age of 'fourteen. It has been fre- 
quently said that the best thing the school can do is to give these 
children the best education it can, and let them go to work, but the 
question remains as to what is the best method of giving them this 
education. There is evidence that the present course of study, laid 
out alike for all children, gives but little education to this particular 
group, and that little falls far short of life equipment. 

A much more efficient training can be given these children if 
they are grouped by themselves and trained in a special line of work 
adapted to their immediate future needs. In the regular grammar 
school buildings, prevocational groups can 'be readily organized, with- 
out any strict regard to grade standing, for the boys and girls from 
twelve to fourteen years of age, who will leave school as soon as 
they are fourteen. Three hours of fundamental work in the three 
"R's" should take up the morning, and two hours in the afternoon 
should be given to practical work. This should not be regarded as 
manual training, but should be real vocational experience, and should 
include commercial work such as typewriting, filling orders from a 
stock room and doing up packages; also mechanical trades such as 
metal work, carpentry, masonry, shoe repairing, foundry work and 
printing, with strong emphasis on practical drawing. Though girls 
as well as boys should have the commercial experience of typewrit- 
ing and filling orders, a large proportion of their time should be 
devoted to household management, including sewing and cooking. If 
time should permit, the girls might have a short factory experience 
in the making of paper boxes such as are needed by the school de- 
partment. 

Prevocational work is not a duplication of the function of the 
trade school. The trade school cannot receive boys or girls under 
fourteen years of age. Moreover, it must keep its pupils two years 
in order to give them a fair training. Since the records of the State 
Agent indicate that a great many children leave school as soon as 
they are fourteen, it is a social service to the city to see that before 
they leave these children are given special attention in school witk 
work adapted to meet their special needs. This work is known as 
prevocational. 

69 



The afternoon work will Involve the presence of two teachers 
with a class, but the cost of the instruction will be reduced as the 
class teacher becomes sufficiently acquainted with the trade pro- 
cesses to handle them himself. 

mornings, Boys and Girls, twelve to fourteen, 3 hours. 

1. English 

2. Applied arithmetic 

3. Industrial geography (beginning with Bridgeport) 

4. Industrial history, including citizenship 

Afternoon, Boys — 2 hours. 

A series of short commercial and trade experiences to be taught 
by workers actually engaged in the following lines: (Regular class 
teacher to be present). 



1. 


Woodwork 


2. 


Metal work 


3. 


Mason work 


4. 


Electrical work 


5. 


Commercial work 




(a) Salesmanship 




(b) Typewriting 




(c) Filling orders 


6. 


Printing 



Afternoon, Girls — 2 hours. 

A series of domestic, industrial and commercial experiences to 
be taught by workers actually engaged in the following lines: (Reg- 
ular class teacher to be present) . 

1. Sewing 

(articles needed) 

2. Cooking 

(plain and simple) 

3. Household management 

(sweeping, cleaning, etc.) 

4. Commercial work 

(a) Salesmanship 

(b) Typewriting 

5. Paper box making 

A careful record should be kept of the success of each boy and 
girl in the varied lines of work. 

Drawing. 

The course in drawing extends throughout the grades, but only 
one teacher of drawing is employed. As there are over 15,000 
children in school, one person cannot exert a great influence in their 
work. Her function is that of a supervisor, visiting the classes and 
holding teachers' meetings. Drawing is not an expensive form of 

70 



instruction to maintain, but if properly conducted, is a very valu- 
able factor in modern education. But with lack of sufficient teaching 
force and with limited materials, the great possibilities of the sub- 
ject are not being realized. 

The character of the work outlined is fairly typical of that found 
in many cities. An effort is made throughout the course to develop 
in the pupils an appreciation of the beautiful. The principles of 
design are taught, and simple applications are made by constructing 
objects of paper or cardboard. A more practical application may be 
found, however, in the girls' sewing and the boys' shop work. 

In the lower grades, where hand work and drawing are closely 
related, there is enough work for three visiting teachers or assistant 
supervisors who should be acquainted with both hand work and draw- 
ing. Under the direction of a general , supervisor, the assistants 
should give demonstration lessons from class to class, allowing the 
regular teachers to continue the work between visits. 

In the higher grades this arrangement would not be satisfac- 
tory. To give instruction in drawing successfully in these more 
advanced classes, the teacher herself should have some special abil- 
ity in this subject. A departmental system could be organized, with- 
out extra cost, whereby some teachers with ability in this work 
could exchange classes with such teachers as lack this ability. 

The teaching should be broadened to include that part of drawing 
which is related to industrial work. At present only the artistic side 
is emphasized, while the mechanical side, which especially needs em- 
phasis in Bridgeport, is neglected. The drawing teacher has recog- 
nized this lack, and with the teacher of manual training is consider- 
ing how this need may be met, although thus far nothing has been 
arranged. It is important that in the development of this mechanical 
side of drawing, as well as in applied design, the handiwork and 
the drawing should be closely related. Boys, especially, should be 
given the rudiments of mechanical drawing. Boys who leave school 
early cannot expect to be taught draughting, and young boys cannot 
handle drawing instruments except those of a very crude type. The 
value of using such instruments is distinctly questionable. But as 
there is an increasing demand on the part of shops that boys be able 
to read drawings, and to make simple sketches of shop objects, they 
should be taught how to make three views of an object, and should 
be trained to make simple freehand sketches. An educational oppor- 
tunity is utilized, also, when boys are taught to make simple working 
drawings of the things they construct in the shop. It is not desir- 
able that grammar school boys be given a set course in mechanical 
drawing, but when they make projects they should be taught to make 
working drawings of those projects. 

In the Industrial department of the High School, a strong course 
in mechanical drawing is essential. 

71 



Tke Industrial School for Trade Training. 

The Bridgeport Trade School does not furnish all of the indus- 
trial education that is needed in the city. It has a capacity in the 
boys' department of from 150 to 175 pupils, but the attendance is far 
below that, in spite of the fact that a large waiting list is reported. 
Bridgeport needs an industrial school rather than a trade school. 
To supply this need, the present trade school might be converted 
into an industrial school or an independent industrial school might 
be organized within the school system. 

The organization of this school Should not be on the program 
scheme, common to most schools, but on the project scheme, with 
requirements varied according to the nature of the work done. Each 
boy's drawing and mathematics should definitely apply to each pro- 
ject he has to work cut in the shop, and not be a , part of a fixed 
course; and" each project should involve a complete process from 
raw material to finished product. One-half the time should be given 
to theoretical work as drawing, shop mathematics, applied science, 
and citizenship. The day should not »be too long for teachers and 
pupils to maintain an efficient standard of work to the end. Six hours 
a day is the usual limit. 

The environment should be industrial and the equipment as near- 
ly like that of industrial shops as is possible. The course of train- 
ing should be especially adapted to the industrial activities of Bridge- 
port, and should include machine work, tool making, die work, sta- 
tionary steam and electrical engineering. 

The sources for securing shop work should be as broad and 
varied as possible. The school should turn out equipment and make 
repairs for the school system. Besides this, each industrial depart- 
ment should manufacture a ' stock product of its own, well adapted 
to trade training, with the output under control of the school.' It 
should never underbid market prices. 

Provision should be made for those who cannot afford to give 
full time to trade training. Some of these can give a day each week 
to improve their knowledge of the theoretical side of their work, and 
may be classed as "part time" students. Many children, employed 
in the industries who have not completed their work in the three 
"R's" should attend this school one-half day per week as "continua- 
tion" students. A third class, usually mechanics, cannot give any 
day time to school work, but would attend evening industrial courses, 
if they were of short duration and confined to certain single phases 
of the various trades. For instance, the carpentry department could 
offer courses to carpenters in roof-framing, blue print reading, esti- 
mating, etc., each course to run for six to eight weeks; the machine 
department might offer similar short courses on the miller, grinder, 
shaper, etc. In this way those who desired to improve themselves 
in their trades could secure at once the line' of instruction they 
might especially desire. 

72 



The school should have an advisory board, composed of men 
locally engaged in the lines of work represented by the school, their 
function being to confer with the directors and instructors. The' cre- 
ation of such a board is essential in order that the work of the school 
may be kept up to date and continually in touch with local interests. 

Three classes or types of instructors are needed in the Industrial 
School. The shop instruction should be given by trade teachers who 
have had at least five years' experience as journeymen workers in 
the trade they are to teach. 

Drawing and such related subjects as shop mathematics should 
be taught by technically trained teachers who are proficient in these 
subjects and have had some shop experience. 

The academic work, including industrial history, industrial geog- 
raphy and citizenship, should be taught by a man with experience as 
a teacher and sin sympathy with the aims of the school. 

Outline of Work. 

- : c. . SHOP WORK. 

On orders for 

1. School -departments, — new equipment, repairing, printing 

2. Special school output, as 

(a) Automobile equipment, jacks, etc. 
\ (h) Machines, drills, lathes, etc. 

(c) Work benches 

(d) Household cabinet for bathrooms, tools, etc. 

(e) Printing, publication, etc. 
-3. Outside trade work 

THEORY WORK. 

Estimates 7 On everything a boy 

Specifications ) makes just be- 

Working drawings and sheets ( fore he makes it. 

of shop operations 
industrial geography, — sources of raw material, transportation. 

and industrial processes 
Industrial history 
Shop notes with English 
Cost records, compared with estimates 
Citizenship, civic duties, hygiene 

The Employers and the Schools. 

The employers in charge of the large plants have shown a 
particular interest in the problem of adjusting the school system to 
the special needs of the city. They are willing to give time and 
effort to assist in solving the problems, for they have real civic pride. 

The employers agree in saying that the children coming to them 
should have alL the education possible before they go to work, and 
that those who go to work early should have at least a thorough 

7.1 



grounding in reading, writing and arithmetic. They heartily approve 
the plan of making this education extremely practical and commend 
the courses in household management for girls and manual training 
for boys. Factory owners do not look to the schools to give chil- 
dren the special training needed for their business, but say, "Give 
the children good schooling and we will teach them how to do our 
work." It is only in the skilled trades, in which the apprentice sys- 
tem has been abandoned, that special industrial training is a pre- 
requisite to employment. 

Practically all of the employers who were approached on the 
public school problem agreed that the Bridgeport schools should be 
well equipped and have the most competent teachers available. They 
did not hesitate to say that Bridgeport could afford to have thor- 
oughly modern, efficient schools and that if funds were lacking they 
ought to be appropriated immediately. 

The Local Labor Union and Industrial Education. 

The labor unions of Bridgeport are not opposed to industrial 
education, but hold, in accord with the Federation of Labor, that it 
is a necessity. They realize the present need in this country for 
skilled workers and the advantage to the workers of being highly 
trained. They object to anything like training specialists in the 
schools. They wish the pupils to be trained as all around mechanics 
and to have courses designed to give them experience in all the pro- 
cesses of manufacture, from the raw material to the finished product. 
They contend that the schools should not train boys as operators for 
special machines, since the industrial shops are satisfactorily equipped 
for that purpose. 

The Labor Unions do not seem to be afraid of the competition of 
schools that do work on a commercial basis, but realize that efficient 
trade training must be practiced on actual work and not on a series 
of useless exercises or models. They insist, however, that this prac- 
tical work should be secured at market prices, not by underbidding. 

In the course of this investigation the views of employers of 
labor and of wage-earners have been sought upon every phase of the 
local situation that has a bearing upon industrial education. The 
employers have shown sincere interest in the welfare of the school 
system, and they favor such a program as will insure for all children 
as good a general education as possible before they go to work. Many 
interviews have been held with the members of the Central Labor 
Union for the purpose of learning what seem to be the principal 
objections to industrial education as they have seen it in operation 
in various parts of the country, and to acquaint them with the gen- 
eral outline of the program which it is believed would meet the situ- 
ation in Bridgeport. 

Following is a brief summary of the objections which the wage- 
earners feel must be met in any proposed scheme: 

74 



1. There must be no interference with, or sacrifice of, oppor- 
tunities for general education. 

2. Industrial education must not be compulsory in the sense 
of prescribing for the individual the kind of occupation for which 
he must fit himself. 

3. The children must be protected from narrow trade instruc- 
tion exclusively in the interests of employers. 

4. There must be no discouragement of the poor man's children 
from higher professional and technical education. 

5. The manufactured products must be disposed of in such a 
way as to avoid unfair competition with the industries of the com- 
munity. 

6. The aim must not be the training of boys to go into the in- 
dustries to work for lower wages and thus displace the workers now 
employed. 

7. Parents must not be deprived of the right to control the edu- 
cation of their own children, within the limitations imposed by law. 

8. The school day must not be unreasonably long. 

9. The real needs of the community and of the children should 
determine the courses to be offered. 

Summary. 

The foregoing discussion may be summarized thus: 
The development of automatic machinery and the consequent in- 
crease of factories has had much influence on industrial conditions 
In Bridgeport. 

The output is of a most varied character, but the fundamental 
operations necessary to produce it are quite similar and markedly 
mechanical in their nature. 

There is a great demand for unskilled labor which is supplied by 
boys and girls who leave school from the lower grades; in this field 
girls take higher rank than boys. 

A better, but more limited field, is that offered by the skilled 
trades, requiring children who are older and of better school 
standing. 

The unskilled field offers, almost at once, all the possibilities to 
be found in it; the skilled field offers a gradually increasing develop- 
ment in capacity and compensation. 

Another line of work, open to boys, which though not yet con- 
sidered a trade, is classed in some lines as skilled, is that called 
"assembling and adjusting." The workers in it need to have their 
training when young; the work offers good future prospects. 

Commercial houses and stores attract the boys and girls who 
have not been retarded in their school work. These enter employ- 
ment from higher grades than those entering shops and factories. 

The Connecticut law requires every child under sixteen, Who 
wishes to enter employment, to secure a certificate. To obtain a 

75 



certificate, the child must submit evidence that he is at least fourteen 
years of age, and able to read and write, and in arithmetic to per- 
form the fundamental operations with Whole numbers and fractions. 
The law also permits school boards to fix a grade which the child 
must complete before he can obtain a certificate. 

To extend the benefits of this system, the following recommenda- 
tions are made: 

That the Bridgeport School Board establish a requirement that 
every child securing a certificate shall have completed the sixth grade: 

That special classes be organized for backward and foreign born 
children; 

That the law be extended to cover groups of children, over whom 
at present it has no jurisdiction; 

That the School Board and the State Agent co-operate more ac- 
tively, and that a Vocational Guidance department be created to work 
with them. 



To secure satisfactory results in drawing, 

\ 

There should be three assistant supervisors who can direct the 
art and hand work of the first five grades; 

The teaching of drawing in the grammar grades should be on 
a departmental basis; 

Drawing and handwork for both boys and girls should be closely 
allied; 

The industrial phases of drawing which are at present entirely 
lacking should be included in the teaching of that subject; 

A strong course in mechanical drawing should be established in 
the Industrial department of the High School. 



The State Trade School does not meet the needs of industrial 
education an Bridgeport; 

Bridgeport needs to have an industrial school rather than a trade 
school ; 

This school should be organized on the "project scheme" rather 
than on the plan of a set program; 

One-half the time should be given to theoretical work; the rest 
to practical work; 

Six hours' work a day is the proper amount to expect; 

The environment of the shops should be industrial; 

The work for the shops should be secured from as many sources 
as possible; 

The courses of training should be especially adapted to the ac- 
tivities carried on in Bridgeport; 

76 



Provision should be made for those who cannot attend the regu- 
lar sessions, by the formation of "part time," "continuation," and 
evening classes; 

An advisory board, composed of men engaged in -the trades taught 
in the school, should be organized to keep the school work progressive 
and in touch with local interests. 



The employers are sincerely interested in the welfare of the 
school system; 

They feel that the children Who come to them should have as 
good a general education as possible before going to work; 

They strongly favor courses in household management for 
girls, and manual training for boys; 

They believe that Bridgeport can afford to have thoroughly mod- 
ern, well equipped schools, with the best teachers available and that 
the necessary funds should be appropriated immediately. 



The labor unions in Bridgeport recognize the necessity of indus- 
trial training to meet present industrial needs, and for the protec- 
tion of the workers; 

They insist that industrial training in the schools shall not be 
special, but general, and calculated to produce all-around mechanics; 

They oppose a nine-hour day in the schools, as strongly as in 
the shops; 

They do not fear the competition of the schools in industrial 
work, provided the schools secure work at market prices. 



IX. HIS 

The leading purpose of the teaching of history is essentially 
moral. Through history, the learner gets some knowledge of him- 
self, of his fellows, and of his various relationships with his fel- 
lows. In other words, the knowledge which he gains of the laws 
which govern his own life and the life of other human beings, he 
uses in an eminently practical way; that is, in making the social 
adjustments which he must make in co-operating with his fellows. 
And his success in his chosen vocation,, or as a worker in any form 
of community service, depends upon the ability and skill with which 
he makes such adjustments. 

History gives him invaluable aid, not only by furnishing him 
the means of self-knowledge and the knowledge of others, but it al- 
so helps him to understand the social conditions and problems which 
he must meet and solve as a citizen and as a man in his later adult 

77 



life. For these conditions and problems he can best understand 
by seeing with clear vision how they grew out of the past, or by 
the study of history. 

In helping the child, through history, to gain this invaluable 
insight into the meaning of his own life as related to other lives 
in various forms of human endeavor, the teacher's main function is 
that of a life-interpreter. She stands between the individual life 
and the life embodied in the historical material, and shows the rela- 
tion between the two. She and the pupils, therefore, are the main 
factors in the vital process of education. Books, maps, charts, objects, 
pictures, stories, poems, and other forms of historical material are 
subordinate. They are merely the means which are used in achiev- 
ing the great end in view, — 'the attainment of knowledge, power, 
ideals, and of the ability to make the proper social adjustments. 

In order that such a purpose may be achieved in any city school 
system, even to a very limited extent, careful consideration should 
be given to the following elements: (1) The time devoted to the 
subject; (2) the materials outlined and; suggested in the course of 
study; and (3) the methods of using and interpreting such material 
by the teacher. 

According to the daily program of the Bridgeport schools, 
the time devoted to work in. history is as follows: 

In grades I and II. a single period of fifteen minutes a week; 
in grades III to VI, a single period of twenty-eight minutes a week; 
and in grades VII and VIII, two and one-half periods of one hour 
each, per week. But from many inquiries which were made, it 
would appear that the time as scheduled in the program is not used 
in grades below VII and VIII. Practically all the teachers of the 
sixth grade who were asked about the time devoted to history, 
answered "twenty minutes a week." 

The material as outlined in the course of study is about as 
limited as the time devoted to the subject. Grades I and II call 
for history on Monday, the material being left to the discretion of 
the teacher; grade III, "Stories of American History;" grade IV 1 , 
"Stories of Our Country," and grade IV 2 , "Noble Deeds of Our 
Fathers;" and grades V and VI, Eggleston's "A First Book in American 
History;" and grades VII and VIII, Eggleston's "A School History 
of the United States." 

This means that the course of study in grades beyond I and 
II consists of books rather than a definite, concrete and sug- 
gestive outline of work to be done. So far as could be learned, 
however, the books mentioned for grades III and IV were not uni- 
formly read in the various schools; while in grades V and VI only 
a single little book is read, and that only for some twenty minutes 
a week. This little volume contains only about two hundred pages. 
When we call to mind that a very large part of the boys and girls 

78 



in Bridgeport leave school by the end of the sixth grade, and many 
of them by the end of the fifth, we can see how unfortunate it is 
that so little is done in history in these grades. 

Methods of Instruction. 

But there is reason to doubt whether in these grades history 
as history is gjven serious consideration. In grades V and VI the 
lesson was invariably a reading lesson, and almost invariably 
nothing more. In one sixth grade room the teacher said (and many 
other teachers in this grade said the same thing) that inasmuch 
as she had only twenty minutes a week, she found it very difficult 
to get consecutive thought and sustained effort when working 
under such conditions. 

But she, herself, secured good results. In an intelligent and 
stimulating way she appealed to the sympathetic imagination of her 
class, and many of them, it was evident, lived over again the life 
experience of the youthful Lincoln. His self-reliance, his hard life 
in the backwoods, and his manliness, were all used in an effective way 
to give a moral uplift to the boys and girls in the class. The 
teacher was a life interpreter, and for the time being many of her 
pupils were getting a splendid stimulus from companionship with 
a noble young soul. It is in such concrete ways as this that boys 
and girls in the elementary school get some of the finest suggestions 
as to the rich potentialities of their own lives; it is in such ways 
that they come under the inspiration of the great leaders of the past. 
As has been well said, truth finds its supreme embodiment in per- 
sonality, and there can be no doubt that it is by the effective use of 
great lives as identified with important events, and as the centers 
of important movements, that the teaching of history can be made 
most fruitful in the elementary school. 

But it is to be regretted that only a very little teaching of this 
kind was observed in grades V and VI. As a rule, the teacher's 
attention was fixed upon the proper pronunciation and meaning of 
the text, or the mere mechanics of the reading. If a question was 
asked, it was quite as likely to be on geography as on history, 
although only a slight effort was made to give the pupils a definite 
notion of the location of the events narrated. As a matter of fact, 
the history side of the work in grades V and VI did not appear to be 
in the minds of most of the teachers. Whatever history the children 
got, therefore, was as a rule merely incidental. It was very rare that 
the teacher contributed a single fact or suggestion which did not 
appear in the text read by the pupil. And this was largely true of 
the teachers in grades VII and VIII. 

But there were exceptions. In one seventh grade room a teacher 
of sympathetic spirit sought to bring the pupils into vital relation 
with the life and experience embodied in the text. She criticised 
them for bookishness, — for giving the language of the text rather 

79 



than putting the 'thought into their own word3. She used the deeds 
and. qualities of Washington to teach , moral lessons, and she held 
up his character as an example for the children to imitate. 

But, as already suggested, this sort of teaching was rare in either 
the seventh or the eighth grade. Much of the work was bookish 
and mechanical. In many cases the teacher held the book in her 
hand and followed the pupils closely as they, like phonographs, 
reproduced the words of the text. Very few teachers made any 
contribution of distinct value in the way of illuminating and supple- 
menting the text or of making it more interesting and vivid. It was 
merely a study of the text, if by study we mean the attempt on the 
part of the pupil to learn all the tacts which the text contained. It 
was an extreme type of memoriter work, and from that point of view 
the pupils met the standards set for them remarkably well and in 
a really admirable spirit. There was a very pleasant relation exist- 
ing between teachers and pupils. 

There was some good work observed in locating on the maps the 
events narrated in the text, although such work was> not common. 

There was practically no evidence that the pupils had read 
anything whatever outside of their textbook. There were, however, 
so far as could be observed, almost no books in the school for the 
children to read, even if they had been expected to do so. This 
condition of affairs is to be deeply regretted, for in order to do 
effective work, books to supplement the text should always be at hand. 

By such a method as has just been outlined, the children are 
memorizing the paragraphs and pages of a book, but they are not 
studying history as the embodiment and interpretation of human life. 

Recommendations. 

All the foregoing points to a few definite recommendations. 

In the first place, more time should be devoted to history teach- 
ing in the first six grades. 

In the second place, the methods of teaching should! be so 
modified as to make history a vital force in the education of the 
pupil. History should be made a humanizing factor in enlarging 
the intellectual and moral outlook of the learner and in leading 
him to understand more or less clearly his opportunities, privil- 
eges and responsibilities as a citizen in a democracy like ours. 

But in order to make history a vital force in any school system, 
it is absolutely necessary that there should be in daily use something 
more than a single textbook. Even the scholarly and sympathetic 
teacher cannot secure satisfactory results without having at hand 
suitable tools and good material. It is just as important for the 
history department to have good equipment, whether in the grades 
or in the high school, as it is that the science teacher should have 
a well equipped laboratory. Maps, charts, objects and pictures must 
be made use of, or else the teaching is likely to be mechanical and 

80 



barren. The school authorities in Bridgeport could not easily make a 
better investment than by spending a considerable sum of money in 
supplying the teachers of history, especially in grades VII and VIII 
and in the 'high school, with the tools that would enable them to 
teach much more effectively than they can under present conditions. 

In the third place, the course of study in history should be made 
more definite and concrete. It is not enough to mention a few books, 
or even to prescribe them for reading and study. Definite work 
should be outlined and required from the third grade to the high 
school. 

Course of Study. 

As a minimum, the following may be suggested: 

In the first two grades the children should get some impressions 
of primitive life — which may be gained largely through simple oral 
work about the American Indians — and some appreciation of the 
meaning of a few of our public holidays. In the third grade some- 
thing should be done in a definite way to give the children pictures 
of historical scenes and persons in different ages, with the emphasis 
upon those great leaders who have played a conspicuous part in 
American history. In grades IV, V and VI, some definite knowledge 
should be gained of the leading events and of the leading representa- 
tive men in our national history. The whole period of American 
history should at least be touched upon before the end of the 
sixth grade, for it is important to remember that this is a pivotal 
grade, because in a manufacturing city like Bridgeport, it ends 
the school life of perhaps a half of the boys and girls. In grades VII 
and VIII a strong effort should be made to give the pupils a good 
understanding of what our history means and of the meaning of good 
citizenship. 

In view of the complex conditions of social and political life 
today, it seems unwise and unfair alike to the individual and to the 
community at large to do less than this. But even more is demanded 
if we are to have that high grade of intelligent citizenship that is 
fundamental to the best interests of our national life. Enough work in 
general history should be done to make clear, though in a very 
simple way, how American life had its beginnings and how from 
its very first stages it was closely related to the life and thought 
of the European world. 

By the use of such a plan, American boys and girls can be 
given a much more intelligent conception of the meaning of our 
national life than they can acquire if they are taught that American 
history began with the discovery of America by Columbus in 1492. 
If the pupils of grade VI get intelligent impressions of the great fact 
that American life has all along been identified with the life of the 
world, they will be more likely to have a realizing sense of the 
meaning of present conditions and problems in our life as a people 

81 



-and of the relation of the individual as a citizen and a man to the 
community in meeting and solving such conditions and problems. 
If history is taught with this aim in mind, it will be given the prom- 
inent place in the school curriculum which its importance justifies. 

In the high school, history is accorded a place of prominence, 
especially in the English course, where Greek and Roman history 
are required in the Freshman year, Mediaeval and Modern history 
in the Sophomore, English history in the Junior, and United States 
history in the Senior year. Much of the history teaching in the high 
school was good, and some of it was very effective. An excellent 
lesson was observed in a Senior class which was studying American 
history. The pupils in the class were required to keep in notebooks, 
which were handed in once a week, a report of from ten to fifteen 
pages of reading in some good authority. This work was done with 
evident intelligence and discrimination; and the same may be said 
of the use which the class was making of the outline maps. 



X. ENGLISH. 

"Language and thought are inseparable. Words without thoughts 
are dead sounds; thoughts without words are nothing * * * The 
word is thought incarnate." This quotation from Professor Max 
Muller suggests two very diverse ways of teaching language. The 
teacher may emphasize the vital qualities of oral and written expres- 
sion in such a manner that his pupils will feel that words are alive, 
and capable of expressing very clearly and forcibly every thought 
and emotion they experience ; or he may divorce language and thought 
to such an extent that children will fail to grasp any practical con- 
nection between the language work of the school and their own 
methods of self-expression. The teacher following the first method 
will use grammar, punctuation, phonics, spelling, and penmanship 
merely as a means to an end, thus unifying all language work; the 
teacher following the second method will use each as an end in itself, 
thus making language a complex subject of diversified parts and 
therefore difficult of mastery. The first method is thoroughly 
modern and vitalizes all language study; the second, timeworn and 
deadening in its ineffectiveness. 

"The Course of Study and Directions" for .the teachers of Bridge- 
port divides the study of English into two parts, Language and Com- 
position. In the work for the elementary school (grades I — V) 
punctuation and technical grammar are discussed under the head 
of Language; talking, letter writing, sentence and paragraph struc- 
ture under Composition; while spelling, phonics, and penmanship 
are given separate places in the program of studies. Thus there 

82 



ie little unity in this teaching scheme, and if the teachers follow the 
daily program required of everyone in the system, they have little 
opportunity to unify the work for themselves. 

The directions for the teaching of technical grammar through 
the fourth grade, the grade from which the children in any noticeable 
degree begin to leave school, are both simple and practical. The 
oral and written use of the various parts of the common irregular 
verbs and the possessive case of nouns and all cases of pronouns 
is the complete requirement. This should give the teachers ample 
time in which to drill upon a few of the most difficult forms of 
English expression. The real effectiveness of this work, however, 
lies in its constant application to every day speech. It is not to be 
found in the reciting of definitions and the giving of mere illustrations 
of rules, which is the present interpretation of the course by the 
majority of the Bridgeport teachers. 

The composition course for the first four years is as follows: 

Grade I 1 Talking. 

Grade I 2 Sentences about things, events, or subjects. 
Words given as a basis. Oral story telling. 

Grade II 1 Write sentences about pictures and from story. 
Oral story telling. 

Grade II 2 Narratives of sentences. Write short story. 

Grade III 1 Combine sentences. Sentence arrangement. 

Grade III 2 Stories from suggested expressions. 

Grade IV 1 Letter writing. Paragraph. Reproductions. 

Grade IV 2 Related parts of sentences. Character sketches. 

The teaching of elementary composition is thus dismissed with 
the most general directions. "Talking" is about as indefinite a direc- 
tion as could be imagined. The purpose, the subject matter, the 
method are left to the teachers and principals to determine largely 
for themselves. If these directions were later to be interpreted by 
a competent supervisor of elementary work, through model lessons 
in the class room and by teachers' meetings, some uniformity of 
effort might be expected. But since this careful supervision is lack- 
ing, there must be uncertainty many times on the part of teachers 
in following such general directions and, as a result, a constant over- 
lapping of effort. Whether the directions in many cases refer to 
oral or written composition, it is difficult to determine. The course 
as it stands, however, suggests that comparatively little time is given 
to oral composition, i. e., training in larger units than the sentence. 
This, indeed, is unfortunate when it is recalled how much oftener the 
children speak than write. Daily practice in oral composition would 
not only of itself be of immeasurable value to the pupils but it would 
aid them, to a marked degree, in all efforts at writing. Grade IV 1 
seems to be illogically arranged. Work in reproduction is easier 
than letter-writing, and very naturally prepares the way for a study 
of the paragraph. A better order would be — reproduction, paragraph 
study, letter-writing. 

83 



The directions for the teaching of spelling in the first four grades 
are admirable. Teachers are advised to work with this subject daily 
and in all lessons. Thus spelling is closely correlated with all forms 
of self-expression, regardless of the subject matter. And if the spirit 
of the directions is adhered to, the words are not isolated but studied 
in relation to the context. 

If a study of punctuation can ever be separated profitably from 
composition, the course for Grades I-V should produce results. The 
lessons advised for the various years seem to correlate naturally with 
the subject of composition. For instance, teachers are directed in 
Grade IV 1 to teach letter writing, paragraph structure, and reproduc- 
tion. In this same year, they are asked to give lessons in punctuat- 
ing an explanatory modifier, and a phrase out of order. Better far, 
however, would 'it be to give the same injunction here as in the 
course for spelling — "Daily from all lessons." 

The discussion of the course up to this point has not taken into 
consideration the fact that many of the children of Bridgeport are of 
foreign parentage and hence hear no English spoken at home. The 
work as outlined thus far has been general and practical enough 
so as not to hamper any teacher who is dealing with immigrants or 
the children of immigrants. When it comes to the subject of read- 
ing, however, the case is different. All schools should not be re- 
quired in these primary grades to read the same books. Schools 
like the Longfellow, in which 97% of the enrollment is made up of 
Hungarians, should be allowed to use texts especially made to meet 
their particular problems. Several series have been prepared with 
the idea of teaching English "by using it in the class-room." The 
lessons in these texts are so arranged that "the pupil's whole atten- 
tion should be given to correct pronunciation; he will infer the 
rules of grammar." And the authors of one series maintain further, 
"if the pupil always talks and writes grammatically there will be 
no need of learning rules." 

The use of such specially prepared texts, furthermore, would be 
of great service to the teacher of foreign born children who have been 
partially educated in the old country. Children of this class are 
taught to read English largely by the phonetic method. 
It is not at all an uncommon experience to find these children glibly 
calling words of whose meaning they have no understanding. A 
close union of language and thought in such classes would open up 
a new world to these strangers. This could be effected by using 
special texts and making the language work objective. These chil- 
dren at present are concerned more in acquiring a knowledge of 
arithmetic than in learning a new tongue. Their securing a working 
certificate depends upon their ability to use fractions, not upon their 
ability to use English. If they can read and write in any tongue, 
the present requirements of the State law and the Board of Education 
are satisfied. The Board should, therefore, since it has the power, 
make the completion of, at first, the fifth and, later, the sixth grade 

84 



the minimum requirement for a working certificate, and should also, 
during this period of change, make sure that these children receive 
particular training in English by means of specially prepared texts 
and at the hands of teachers vitally interested in solving the 
immigrant problem. 

Thas far an attempt has been made to estimate in a broad way 
the efficiency of the course offered in English in the elementary 
grades. Before passing to the language work of the "grammar 
school" it might be well to consider briefly what the purpose of such 
work should be. Probably one of the best ways to discover this is to 
compare the grammar school teaching in language a generation ago 
with that of today. The emphasis according to the old ideal was 
placed upon the study of technical grammar, hence the name ".gram- 
mar" school. A child's power to express himself clearly and forcibly 
was determined largely by his ability to parse, conjugate, or to 
analyze isolated sentences composed by others. Occasionally, he 
was asked to write a composition. This he did blindly, imitating, no 
doubt, some story he had read in his reader. When he recited in his- 
tory or geography, he answered the teacher's questions, aiming as 
nearly as possible to express himself in the language of the text. 
Rarely, if ever, he considered these subjects from any other stand- 
point than the mastery of facts. He learned his spelling mainly 
from the spelling book and the words he found there he spelled orally 
or in long lists. Punctuation, if acquired at all, he .learned through 
the memorizing of rules. The old grammar school ideal was, broadly 
speaking, a knowledge of facts. But today in the most advanced school 
systems, the child is trained according to a very different ideal. He 
learns technical grammar and he analyzes as of old, but he does 
these things that he may know how to eradicate faults in his com- 
positions. In some school systems this correlating of technical 
grammar with composition is so close that the errors the child 
makes determine largely the technical grammar he is to study. 
In other words, he is tested in a knowledge of grammar by his ability 
to write and speak correctly. He expresses himself daily in email 
units at his seat or at the board. These compositions are criticised 
by the pupils and teachers and form the basis of the next day's 
work in language drill. When he recites in geography or history, 
he talks from outlines, aiming to give a connected talk upon some 
division of the subject under discussion. He learns to spell from 
lists of words selected from his various lessons, from words mis- 
spelled in his own compositions, and from spellers which group 
troublesome words under rules or root stems. He is trained to choose in- 
telligently the punctuation marks that will best suit his own definite 
purpose. He reads many readers and in the last years of his course 
he studies several masterpieces suited to his own enjoyment and his 
unconscious imitation. Thus his daily training is entirely directed 
toward one common end — a clear, forceful, and easy expression 
of his own or another's thoughts. 

The course of study in English of the Bridgeport grammar grades 



suggests at present, a commingling of these two ideals. Technical 
grammar as a distinct study is rigidly insisted upon. Promotion from 
grade to grade depends in many cases upon the pupil's knowledge 
of definitions, his ability to conjugate, parse, and analyze. Punctua- 
tion is considered as an independent study to be finished by the end 
of the fifth grade with reviews through the eighth. Spelling is 
taught from a book 'throughout the four years with the injunction 
that there be "One lesson each week made from other lessons." 
Instruction in composition, both written and oral, is given, but, as a 
subject, it is not considered as important as grammar. This is 
shown by the fact that it is assigned less time than technical gram- 
mar;* it does not affect materially the promotion of a child; and, 
after the fifth grade, it may be taught largely as the principal and 
teachers of a school see fit. Reading is required for half an hour daily 
in all grammar grades. In grades seven and eight, the classics 
suggested for study are, for the greater part, those which should 
interest the child and aid him in the development of his mode of 
expression. 

To determine the effectiveness of the foregoing course of study, 
two examinations were given, one in the sixth g^rade (VI 2 ) ; the other 
in the eighth. The former was to test the efficiency of the work 
midway between the point of greatest elimination of students and the 
end of the course; the latter to judge the work of those who had 
had advantages of the complete course. 

In both of these examinations, each pupil was asked to write an 
original composition, 1 and a reproduction. 2 

1 In the sixth grade, he was asked to write upon one of the fol- 
lowing subjects: 

Stalled in a snow storm A rainy day at camp 

Making a snow fort Why I am a scout 

A circus parade Caught in a thunder storm 

Feeding the monkeys 

In the eighth grade, upon one of the following subjects: 

Locked out! An exciting bicycle ride 

Dead broke! The study I like best 

An April fool joke The games I like best 

Main street on election night A narrow escape from 

drowning 
A daring feat An encounter with an angry 

dog 
An interesting vaudeville act A winter evening at home 

Lost in the woods An amusing occurrence at 

school 
My room after a hurried dressing How to make a fire at camp 
2 In the sixth, he was required to reproduce Calvin C. Colton''., 
"A Leap for Life." 

In the eighth, he was required to reproduce an adaptation of 
Washington Irving's "The Adventure of My Aunt." 

* Grammar is given iy 2 hours a week; composition, only 1 hour. 



The work of examining the sixth grade papers was entrusted 
to two English teachers, one a teacher of the grades, the other 
with both graded and high school experience. The eighth grade 
papers were criticised by a committee composed of the two teachers 
that had had charge of the sixth grade work, with the addition of 
another teacher of the grades, and two more high school English 
teachers. The same plan virtually was carried out in the exam- 
ination of the two grades of work. On the first day, the commit- 
tee worked together, in order to secure a uniform standard of 
criticism. It was decided that all papers should be judged from 
two points of view — originality of expression, and mechanical cor- 
rectness. With this standard as a guide, the papers of a school 
were read with the idea of securing general impressions of the work 
of a class, rather than of individuals. To effect this plan, the 
compositions, while being read, were classified in five groups: In 
the first were the "exceptional" or A papers; in the second, the 
"strong" or B papers; in the third, the "average" or C papers; in 
the fourth, the "weak" or D papers; and in the fifth the "impossible" 
or E papers. Compositions placed in the fourth and fifth groups 
showed that the students had little or no power of self-expression. 

In comparing the following results, it should constantly be 
borne in mind that the sixth grade, as far as Bridgeport is con- 
cerned, represents a more normal condition of what might be ex- 
pected of public school training than the eighth. The former grade, 
broadly speaking, includes nearly every class of children that might 
hope to receive an efficient, practical training in English; the latter 
grade, a limited class, as it will be seen by reference to Table 2, 
(Distribution of Pupils by Ages and Grades) that there is loss of 
over fifty per cent in enrollment in the eighth, as compared with the 
sixth grade. The eighth grade pupils have had, moreover, the advan- 
tage of fairly prosperous surroundings, and a two-years' study of 
classics, easy of imitation. Another fact should be remembered: 
as there are no eighth grade classes in the Longfellow and Walters- 
ville schools, where the majority of the foreign children are trained, 
the results of these schools are not included in the estimate of the 
work of the higher grade. This, very naturally, gives another ad- 
vantage to the eighth grade results. A tabulated report of the results 
of the examinations follows. The figures refer to the combined re- 
sults of the original compositions and reproductions. 

Tables 1 and 2 give the general results of this examination. 
Both original compositions and reproductions are included in each 
table. 



87 



Results of the Examination in English. 

TABLE 1 

Sixth Grade 

Classification 
A or exceptional papers 
B or strong papers 
C or average papers 
D or weak papers 
E or impossible papers 

Total 

Eighth Grade 

Classification 
A or exceptional papers 
B or strong papers 
C or average papers 
D or weak papers 
E or impossible papers 



Number 


Percentage of the Whole 


15 


2.8 


96 


18.2 


225 


42.7 


140 


26.6 


51 


9.6 


527 


99.9 


TABLE 2 




Number 


Percentage of the whole 


26 


4. 


197 


30.2 


315 


48.2 


95 


14.5 


19 


• 2.9 



Total 652 99.8 

Connecting the facts shown in these tables with the discussion 
of the relative emphasis placed upon the teaching of technical gram- 
mar as compared with composition, it is apparent that the present 
course is not producing satisfactory results. Taking first the figures 
of the table for the sixth grade, it is to be noted that over forty per 
cent, display only average ability, while over thirty-three and a third 
per cent, 'have failed to secure any practical results whatsoever. When 
it is realized that over fifty per cent, of the children never reach 
the eighth grade, that thirty and one-half per cent, leave at the end 
of the fourth grade, and thirty-one and eight-tenths per cent, at the 
end of the fifth, these figures become startling. A consideration of 
them, moreover, in their immediate bearing upon the examination 
shows that over one-third of these sixth grade children knew so little 
about the ordinary principles of composition that their papers were 
considered below a passing grade. 

In reviewing the causes of these failures, the sixth grade papers 
will still be considered and, later, those of the eighth. An illogical 
arrangement of sentences (the frequent cause of poor paragraph 
structure) was the determining factor in the failure of 127 papers; 
weak sentence structure, of 117 papers; no knowledge of punctuation, 
of 38; and poor spelling, of 31. 

What do these figures show? The study of technical grammar 
s'hould, if it has any value at all, accomplish two things at least: — 
it should aid the students in the construction of their sentences, and 
should develop their logical faculty. Inasmuch as the greatest causes 
of failure in this grade were due to an inability to construct coher- 
ent sentences and arrange sentence units, it is evident that the con- 
stant drill upon the technical side of language has not produced 

88 



practical results for a large proportion of the pupils. The figures 
in punctuation, moreover, do not reveal the exact condition of affairs, 
as no papers were given a failing grade on the sole ground 
of lack of knowledge in 'this subject. The work in punctuation 
throughout the sixth grade was exceedingly weak. Spelling, how- 
ever, except on the part of foreigners, showed considerable strength. 
The papers as a whole were neat, but the ink, in many cases, was 
so thin that the examining committee had difficulty in reading the 
papers. It is easy to foresee the inevitable effect this will have upon 
the eyesight of the children if better ink is not supplied. 

Turning now to the subject of the general organization of ma- 
terial, the sixth grade papers indicated a very meagre training in 
reproducing the thoughts of others. As has been said elsewhere, 
this power can be gained in the geography, history, and science les- 
sons, as well as in the composition classes. That it should be culti- 
vated there can be no doubt. Reproduction work is of great assist- 
ance in training children to determine the relative value of ideas. It 
should give them judgment in deciding what is of importance, and 
what is not. It should aid them naturally, in an unconscious form- 
ing of their own power of self-expression, and, finally, it should be 
of great assistance dn enlarging their vocabularies. The sixth grade 
papers showed that the children had had little training in this kind 
of composition work, for insignificant details were given the same 
importance as leading ideas. Moreover, the poem in many instances, 
was reproduced in a peculiar kind of prose which showed that the 
children were trying to reproduce the story in the poetic form of 
the original. The following table will show how much greater was 
the percentage of failures in reproduction work than in the writing 
of original compositions: 

TABLE 3 
Sixth Grade 
Original Compositions 
Classification of mark. Number Percentage 

A 8 3.0 

B 59 22.4 

C 136 51.7 

D 43 16.3 

E 17 6.4 



Total 




263 
Eeproductions 


99.8 


Classification 


of mark. 


Number 


Percentage 


A 




7 


2.6 


B 




37 


14.0 


C 




89 


33.8 


D 




97 


36.7 


E 




34 


12.8 



Total 



264 



89 



99.9 



In the original work, the sixth grade children displayed consid- 
erable skill in story-telling. The subjects assigned were such as 
might naturally be expected to interest them. The exercise was 
given to test their powers of imagination, of observation, and of rea- 
soning. Such an exercise should reveal, furthermore, their ability to 
plan, (I. e., power to select and arrange material with a given pur- 
pose in mind;) their individuality of expression and the extent of 
their vocabularies. The papers proved that the children had a good 
sense of the value of words. In many instances words and expres- 
sion were selected, exceptionally well suited to express the ideas 
the pupils had in mind. In writing upon subjects like "A circus parade" 
or "Caught in a thunder storm" the compositions showed spon- 
taneity and individuality. At the same time, however, many of these 
original narratives revealed a poor sense of proportion, and little 
ability to keep to one subject. The pupils had written apparently 
without outlining their stories ahead of time. Planning is a neces- 
sary preparation for all thought work and, if the pupils are ever to 
be trained to speak and write correctly, this essential form of com- 
position study must always precede every oral and written exercise. 

• 

The results of the eighth grade examinations can be considered 

in a more general manner inasmuch as they affect, at present, the 
teaching of such a small percentage of the total school enrollment. 
By examining Table 1 again, it is seen that about two-sixths are 
doing strong or exceptional work, about three-sixths average or pass- 
ing work and one-sixth weak or impossible work. Many of the weak- 
nesses characteristic of the sixth grade work are apparently cor- 
rected by the time the children reach the eighth grade. The sen- 
tence structure is good, and the relating of sentences into fairly-well 
constructed paragraphs is rather remarkable for children of this age. 
The spelling, considering the amount of time given to the subject, 1 is 
not as good in this grade as might be expected. The children spelled 
the words dictated- to them better than those they used in their own 
compositions. But the real value of the study of spelling lies, it 
must be remembered, not in an ability to spell isolated words, but in 
an ability to spell words as they are needed to express related ideas. 
Punctuation here, as in the sixth grade, is very faulty. The children, 
judging from the directions given in the Course of Study, may know 
the rules, but, if they do, they rarely, if ever, apply them. 

Leaving this technical side of composition work for a considera- 
tion of the manner of telling both the original stories and the repro- 
ductions, it is worthy of note that the students felt a keen interest 
■in the subjects assigned. This interest is often manifested by the 
original and spontaneous way the children express themselves. In 
such compositions — and they are generally the original stories — 

1 It should be remembered that spelling has been taught for 15 
minutes each day, for five days in a week, throughout the course. 

2 Fifty words were dictated, as a part of the examination. 

90 



-r.^anical difficulties seem to droj am ay '. 1. : free -: 

E If in an HBeonseic-.is manner Ba: geaaexal :r- 

ganiza*.;:n :f are a 

parent as in the stsjii Table 4 "*ri 

: _:>::"::-- 777- 

:ll: ::; writing : : •: Dngfna] eoi Zon. 



3 

D 

7 



IAELI 4 




Eig-iith Grade 




Original Compositions 






- 


11 




::: 


Si 


:. 




.: 








A 

B 

C 
1 



■ ductions 



- : 



7 ; ial 
71 . : Irving . by no meant 

QC end :; ::: 77- 7_ 
. - . e :: h^t Qie ; and :: _ .7e tale, as . ■ :__; Easy : 

: aa _r_: a 1 i masm 1 

eafeefci '--.'. : jmpletelj Hie origin; 

E J S I ■ 

.-:;;:.- . a e ins ". ... "." ' ". • _ ■ 

id ::~.i reproduction sawi angina] eon 

I - . 1 .-..". • : 

: - nes to Ik made Exmeias 

work ._ as .1 Dot B»ly esadieaie - 

; 1 aa and ~— -. laek : _----- as in it 2 of ie- 

Bc "■" i" -. - . :: ■ .. • : : : 1- : E " : :Z 

:.... . already Deing 

k b. . a Boaae Bridgeport Bcfeot 

7: one Ed| a twi :t::.^- a week are regt s 

. ral • :ns ^ere 

Bhown Noi ^ Bangle papei in Sie sagas ■ "- -. • 
• . n CB£ ( - : : 1 1 grade 
1 See note ;^e^ 



33 



To sum up the work of the lower grades (Grades I-V) in language: 

Findings : 

1. "Language" is divided into a study of "capitals and marks" 
and "technical forms." Each is considered as a separate study. The 
work in punctuation is that which is usually found in elementary 
schools. 

2. The course of study for teaching composition is very general 
and indefinite. It includes both oral and written expression with 
emphasis upon the latter. 

3. Spelling is emphasized both as a separate subject and in cor- 
relation with all written work. 

4. Reading is taught in a uniform manner throughout the sys- 
tem. The same texts are used in the schools composed of foreigners 
as in those attended by Americans. The method of teaching reading 
in all schools is, for the greater part, based upon a knowledge and 
use of phonetics. Objective leaching is thus neglected. 

5. No requirement in reading and writing English is made of 
children desiring working certificates. 

Recommendations. (Grades I-V) 

1. Unify all teaching with English as a basis. Consider spelling, 
punctuation, grammar, and penmanship not as subjects per se but as 
aids to all written and oral expression. Teach geography, history, 
physiology, and nature work ("General Lessons") as a foundation for 
the expression of the thoughts and observations of the children. To 
do this, make all of this elementary work objective. 

2. Emphasize oral composition. Train the children, especially 
In the science lessons, to talk in paragraph units. This is easy of 
accomplishment if the children work directly with the objects they 
are studying. Use this oral work as an immediate preparation for 
written composition. Have the children write daily at the board. 
Employ for this work pupil and teacher criticism of a constructive 
kind. 

3. Give language lessons preparatory to reading. Depend less 
upon phonetics and more upon connecting the printed text with the 
thought to be conveyed by the reader. 

4. To secure recommendations 1, 2, and 3, revise the course of 
study, making it definite and yet flexible. Appoint, as has been sug- 
gested elsewhere, a supervisor to assist the Superintendent. This 
supervisor, on account of her expert training, could give model les- 
sons in composition in the various class rooms and she could also 
conduct teachers' meetings for the purpose of interpreting the course, 
discussing methods and assisting the teachers generally in keeping the 
work up to a high standard of efficiency. 

92 



5. Have teachers expressly trained for teaching foreigners, in 
charge of the classes in the Waltersville and Longfellow schools. 
Use in these schools, texts specially prepared for foreigners. 

6. The Board of Education, since it has the power, should make 
the completion of at first, the fifth and, later, the sixth grade, the 
minimum requirement for a working certificate. During this period 
of change, it should make sure that children partially trained in the 
old country should receive particular training in English by means 
of specially prepared texts and at the hands of teachers interested 
in solving the immigrant problem. 

To sum up the work of the grammar grades, in language: 

Findings : 

1. Technical grammar is rigidly insisted upon. In Bridgeport, 
this means a knowledge of definitions and the ability to conjugate, 
parse, and analyze. A pupil's proficiency in this respect determines 
his promotion from grade to grade so far as his language work is 
concerned. The method of teaching used, and the results obtained 
show that grammar is not taught as a means of self-expression. See 
Tables 1 and 2. 

2. Punctuation is considered an independent study, to be finished 
by the end of the fifth grade, with reviews through the eighth. The 
papers show that the pupils have little, if any, working knowledge 
of this subject. 

3. Spelling is taught four days in a week, throughout the course, 
from a book. This work is supplemented by one lesson each week 
made from other lessons. 

4. Reading is taught daily, and, in the seventh and eighth grades, 
classics suited to children and easy of imitation are studied. 

5. Composition, both oral and written, is taught, but is not given 
the same amount of emphasis as is technical grammar. Composition 
is given a half-hour twice a week; technical grammar, the same 
length of time, three times a week. After the fifth grade, composition 
may be taught as the principals and teachers see fit. 

The results of the composition test show: 

A. In the sixth grade, containing a fairly general representation of 
school children, 

(a) About. 21% are doing strong or exceptional work; 

(b) Over 40% display only average ability; 

(c) Over 33 J % have failed to secure any practical results; 

(d) The failures are due, in the majority of cases, to an illogical 

arrangement of ideas, and to weak sentence structure; in 
a few cases, to poor punctuation and spelling; 



(e) Many papers fail to show any plan ability. In the original 

work, this destroys the proportion of the parts to the 
whole; in the reproduction work, the differentiation of 
the value of details to bring out effectively the author's 
purpose; 

(f) The work in original composition, which is better than that 

in reproduction, shows a good sense of the value of 
words, spontaneity, and individuality of expression. 

B. In the eighth grade, representing a limited class, 

(a) 34% are doing exceptional pr strong work; 

(b) 48% are doing average work; 

(c) 17% are failing. 

(d) In the majority of cases in this grade, the failures are due 

to a poor selection of details; to a lack of proportion of 
the parts; in a word, to an inability to realize the rela- 
tive importance of the various thoughts with which the 
pupils are dealing. 

Although the sentence and paragraph structure is 
better in this grade than in the sixth, many failures are 
due to a lack of feeling for these divisions of thought. 
The spelling of this grade, considering the formal drills 
given in the subject, is weak. The punctuation in the pa- 
pers shows gross ignorance of that subject. 

(e) Children trained in oral composition write with ease and 

fluency. In one school where this kind of composition is 
emphasized, the results in the original work are excep- 
tional. 

BecoKimendations: (Grades YI-YIII) 

1. Unify all teaching with English as a basis. Emphasize com- 
position work, both oral and written. Teach technical grammar as 
an aid to composition. Give less attention to definitions; more to 
that kind of grammar which will help the children overcome ob- 
stacles to self-expression. Discontinue using a knowledge of tech- 
nical grammar as a basis of promotion. 

2. Teach punctuation daily, as the work of the children in com- 
position, geography, history, physiology, shows the need. Develop 
and use rules in this way. 

3. Teach spelling daily in all work. Select words from reading, 
written lessons, and from spellers which group troublesome words 
under rules. Develop the rules before giving the words. Use con- 
stantly all such new words. 

4. Study classics suited to children as early as the sixth grade. 

5. Outline in detail the course of study in composition for the 
use of teachers. 

94 



6. Increase the amount of time given to composition by decreasing 
the requirement in technical grammar. 

7. Have children write often at the board. Continue to criticise 
constructively all pupil effort with a view to developing a feeling for 
the structure of the sentence and paragraph. 

8. Reproduce constantly in all grammar grades fine units of liter- 
ature. Eefore doing this work, make a careful plan of the selection. 
Write always from outlines. Study the choice of words made by the 
author before attempting the reproduction. Have some of this work 
oral, some written. 

9. Write original compositions as often as possible in all grades. 
Plan every such composition before writing. Emphasize the relative 
value of ideas in this preliminary work. Have several children give 
their compositions orally, before the class writes. Use new subjects 
for each composition exercise, in order not to dull the interest of 
the pupils. Keep this work as far as possible close to the lives of 
the children. 



95 



XI. 

KEPOET ON THE MEASUREMENT OF THE WORK IN AEITHMETIC 

DONE BY PUPILS IN THE SCHOOLS OF BRIDGEPORT, CONN. 



In estimating the efficiency of the work in arithmetic in the 
Bridgeport schools, the advanced division of the sixth grade was se- 
lected for the application of a standard test in fundamental operations 
and in reasoning which had previously been used in twenty-six other 
systems. In every room the tests were given personally by the out- 
side examiners in accordance with the exact procedure followed else- 
where. 

Bridgeport's results in the test in fundamentals were highest of 
all; in reasoning they were less favorable, though equal to the av- 
erage attained by classes elsewhere. 

It is not known how many pupils had been eliminated in each or 
any of these twenty-six other systems before reaching the grade in 
which the tests were applied. Any comparison of results in differ- 
ent school systems, to be complete, should take this factor into ac- 
count, for obviously that system in which elimination has set in 
earliest and been most severe would have a decided advantage over 
a system which has held its retarded children through the grade 
tested, because in the former case only the brightest children would 
remain to be tested. Those tested would be a highly selected class. 
In Bridgeport, 51% of the pupils are eliminated before they reach 
the sixth grade (Table I.) 

A detailed account of the test follows: 

MEASUREMENT OF THE ARITHMETICAL ABILITIES OF THREE 
HUNDRED AND TWENTY PUPILS IN TEN CLASSES, SIXTH 2 
GRADE (HIGH SIXTH), SCHOOLS OF BRIDGEPORT, CONN., 
BY RESULTS OBTAINED FROM THE STONE TEST. 

The measurement of the arithmetical achievements of the schools 
of Bridgeport is based upon the work of all the pupils in the sixth 2 
classes present at the time the tests were given, as follows: 



aool. 


No. 


of pupils 


1 




17 


3 




51 


5 




35 


6 




45 


10 




37 


14, Room 13 




44 


14, Room 14 




34 


17 




37 


18 




7 


19 




13 = 320 



96 



In order that the comparison might be made upon a more equit- 
able basis, the papers from schools Nos. 1, 18, and 19, were combined, 
thus forming a class of 37 pupils in place of three classes of the 
smaller numbers. 

Before any scoring was done, each class was designated by a 
Roman numeral from I to VIII, inclusive; and it was determined to 
give the composite score of the city as a unit, 320 pupils, the designa- 
tion "Bridgeport." These designations will identify the classes and 
the city throughout this entire study. It is thus seen that no signifi- 
cance can attach to the order in which these numerals are assigned. 
The order of achievement is shown by the serial order as arranged 
in each table, starting with the lowest at the top and advancing in 
order of achievement to the highest at the bottom of the table. 

The test selected is that prepared by Dr. C. W. Stone, and used 
by him in measuring the arithmetical achievements of the following 
twenty-six school systems: 

Batavia, New York. 

Decatur, Illinois. 

Elwood, Indiana. 

Ethical Culture School, New York City. 

Francis W. Parker School, Chicago. 

Horace Mann School, Columbia University, New York City. 

Indianapolis, Indiana. 

Jersey City, New Jersey. 

Kokomo, Indiana. 

Linne School, Chicago. 

Medford, Massachusetts. 

Montclair, New Jersey. 

Muncie, Indiana. 

Natick, Massachusetts. 

Observation School, State Normal, Providence, R. I. 

Passaic, New Jersey. 

Providence, R. I. 

Rochester, New York. 

Schools No. 40 and No. 50, Manhattan, New York City. 

Speyer School, Columbia University. 

Syracuse, New York. 

Training School, State Normal, Hyannis, Massachusetts. 

University Elementary School, University of Chicago. 

Waltham, Massachusetts. 

Waukegan, Illinois. 

Yonkers, New York. 
The test consists of two parts: First, a series of problems in fun- 
damentals; and second, a series of problems in reasoning. The 
method by which these tests were selected, their purpose, content, 

97 



and scoring, are fully explained in Dr. Stone's "Arithmetical Abilities 
and Some Factors Determining Them," Columbia University, Contri- 
butions to Education, Teachers College, Series No. 19. 

In formulating his tests Dr. Stone had the assistance of Profes- 
sor Smith, and the content of each test was so organized as to present 
a definite purpose, accurately measurable. Each test was tried out 
with pupils to determine the most reasonable time limit as well as 
arrangement of problems. In Fundamentals the main purpose was 
the determination of the ability of pupils completing the sixth grade, 
in addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. The first six 
questions embodied all the difficulties of the four fundamental opera- 
tions, but the test was made purposely too long (fourteen examples) 
for any except the brightest, most rapid pupil to finish in the twelve 
minute limit. This not only kept them from getting out of work but 
also provided means to measure their total ability, including rapidity. 
In Reasoning the main purpose was the determination of the ability 
of these children to reason in arithmetic. To this end the problems 
had been selected and arranged after careful trial with pupils in the 
classroom and were weighted according to the degree of difficulty ex- 
perienced by the children in this preliminary study by Dr. Stone. Dr. 
Stone's weighting and arrangement have been accepted and used 
throughout this study upon his authority (c. f. Arithmetical Abilities, 
pages 10 and 18). This test also was made purposely so long that 
but very few of the most rapid children might be expected to com- 
plete it in the fifteen minute limit. In this also the first six prob- 
lems embodied all the conditions deemed essential. Each of the two 
tests was printed separately, and each pupil was furnished with a 
copy. A sample of each test is appended hereto so as to show the 
exact form in which each went into the hands of the pupils. 



98 



ARITHMETIC TEST. 

Work as many of these problems as you have time for; work them m 
order as numbered: 



1. 


Add 2375 




4052 




6354 




260 




5041 




1543 


2. 


Multiply 3205 by 20 


3. 


Divide 3328 by 64 


4. 


Add 596 




428 




94 




75 




302 




645 




084 




897 


5. 


Multiply 768 by 604 


6. 


Divide 1918962 by 543 


7. 


Add 4695 




872 




7948 




6786 




567 




858 




9447 




7499 


8. 


Multiply 976 by 87 


9. 


Divide 2782542 by 679 


10. 


Multiply 5489 by 9876 


11. 


Divide 5099941 by 749 


12. 


Multiply 876 by 79 


13. 


Divide 62693256 by 859 


14. 


Multiply 96879 by 896 



99 



Solve as many of the following problems as you have time for; work 
them in order as numbered: 

1. If you buy 2 tablets at 7 cents each and a book for 65 cents, how 

much change should you receive from a two-dollar bill? 

2. John sold 4 Saturday Evening Posts at 5 cents each. He kept 

half the money and with the other half he bought Sunday pa- 
pers at 2 cents each. How many did he buy? 

3. If James had 4 times as much money as George, he would have 

$16. How much money has George? 

4. How many pencils can you buy for 50 cents at the rate of 2 for 

5 cents? 

5. The uniforms for a baseball nine cost $2.50 each. The shoes 

cost $2 a pair. What was the total cost of uniforms and shoes 
for the nine? 

6. In the school of a certain city there are 2,200 pupils; half are 

tin primary grades; one-fourth in the grammar grades; one- 
eighth in the High School and the rest in the night school. 
How many pupils are in the night school? 

7. If V/z tons of coal cost $21, what will 5% tons cost? 

8. A news dealer bought some magazines for $1. He sold them for 

$1.20, gaining '5 cents on each magazine. How many magazines 
were there? 

9. A girl spent one-eighth of her money for car fare, and three 

times as much for clothes. Half of what she had left was 80 
cents. How much money did she have at first? 

10. Two girls receive $2.10 for making buttonholes. One makes 42,. 

the other 28. How shall they divide the money? 

11. Mr. Brown paid one-third of the cost of a building; Mr. Johnson 

paid half the cost. Mr. Johnson received $500 more annual 
rent than Mr. Brown. How much did each receive? 

12. A freight train left Albany for New York at 6 o'clock. An ex- 

press left on the same track at 8 o'clock. It went at the rate 
of 40 miles an hour. At what time of day will it overtake the 
freight train if the freight train stops after it has gone 5& 
miles? 

Exactly twelve minutes were allowed for the test in fundamentals, 
and fifteen minutes for the test in reasoning. 

All papers were collected immediately and forwarded to Mr. 
Hebden by express on December 17, 1912. The scoring of all the pa- 
pers was done entirely by him. The credits for each example are 
the same as those given by Dr. Stone. In fundamentals each step 
in the process of working each of the examples was given a score 
of one: For instance, in "Example 1" Addition received a score of 
four, being one for each column correctly added; in "Example 6" 
Division received a score of four, Multiplication a score of four, and 

100 



Subtraction a score of three, each step thus receiving its due credit. 
These illustrations will serve to make clear the following complet© 
list of scores for the several problems, assuming all steps to be cor- 
rectly worked: 

1. Score of 4 in addition. 

2. Score of 2 in multiplication, 

3. Score of 2 in division, 2 in multiplication, 1 in subtraction. 

4. Score of 3 in addition. 

5. Score of 3 in multiplication, 2 in addition. 

6. Score of 4 in division, 4 in multiplication, 3 in subtraction. 

7. Score of 4 in addition. 

8. Score of 2 in multiplication, 4 in addition. 

9. Score of 4 in division, 4 in multiplication, 2 in subtraction. 

10. Score of 4 in multiplication, 7 in addition. 

11. Score of 4 in division, 4 in multiplication, 2 In subtraction. 

12. Score of 2 in multiplication, 3 in addition. 

13. Score of 5 in division, 5 in multiplication, 4 in subtraction. 

14. Score of 3 in multiplication, 7 In addition. 

The step incorrectly done lost the score for that step and counted 
a mistake instead. Where a mistake was made in copying the ex- 
ample, no deduction was made, but credit was allowed for the step 
worked correctly In accordance therewith. In Seasoning a score of 
1 is given for each example where the reasoning is correct even 
though there are errors in the computation; where the reasoning is 
right in part, and in part wrong, a corresponding fractional credit 
is given, and the mistake is also counted. This method of scoring 
follows Dr. Stone's plan, not only making the comparison between 
cities upon the same basis, but also serving to make the credits stand 
definitely for that which they were intended to show. The weighting 
of the scores in Reasoning is that used also by Dr. Stone, as follows: 

Problem 1, as weighted, gives credit of one score; 

problem 2, one score; 

problem 3, one score; 

problem 4, one score; 

problem 5, one score; 

problem 6, one and four tenths scores; 

problem 7, one and two tenths scores; 

problem 8, one and six tenths scores; 

problem 9, two scores; 

problem 10, two scores; 

problem 11, two scores; 

problem 12, two scores. 

101 



The score for each class, and for the city as a unit, was reduced 
to the basis of one hundred, the number chosen by Dr. Stone as the 
basis of his scoring. To be more explicit, the actual score in funda- 
mentals made by the thirty-six pupils in class VIII is 1458. this 
score multiplied by one hundred and divided by thirty-six gives 4050, 
the score representing this class in all the tables used. 

The actual score in Fundamentals made by the three hundred 
and nineteen pupils in all the sixth 2 classes (one pupil, coming to 
school after the test in Fundamentals had been started, was allowed 
to take the test in Reasoning, thus making the difference of one in the 
two parts of the test) is 13,477. This reduced to the basis of one 
hundred pupils gives a score of 4,224.8, or 4225, the nearest integer. 
In this way the scores for steps attempted, mistakes, and steps ac- 
complished, have been reduced throughout the study. 

No attempt is made in this report to consider time expendi- 
ture in relation to achievements. The effects of the course of study 
and of supervision are noted only as they become factors in deductions 
and comparisons of the data given in tables. 

After presenting in tables 1(a), Kb), 11(a), and 11(b) (the scores 
achieved by the several classes in Reasoning and Fundamentals when 
all problems are counted and when only the first six problems are 
counted) the remaining tables are taken up in such a manner as to 
compare the achievements of Bridgeport as a system with the twenty- 
six systems of other cities. In the latter part of the study, brief no- 
tice is given to the achievements of the Bridgeport classes as com- 
pared with one another. ' 



TABLES la and lb 

Showing the classes in order of achievement in Stone's test in 
REASONING, the scores made by the several classes and by the 
city as a whole (each reduced to the basis of 100), when all problems 
are counted (la), and when the first six problems only are counted 



TABLE I* 



Reasoning 
First problems counted 



Classes & City 
in order of 
achievement 

VIII 

IV 

VI 

Bridgeport 

V 

I 

Ill 

VII .......... 

II 



Scores 
reduced to 
basis of 100 

446.? 
496.4 
518 ' 
588.4 
609 . 2 
637.3 
638.9 
677.9 
688.2 



TABLE lb 



Reasoning 
First six problems counted 



Classes & City 
in order of 
achievement 



VIII 


418.6 


VI 


460.7 


IV 


477.3 


Bridgeport 


493.8 


VII 


499.1 


I 


507.3 


V 


508.1 


II 


530.6 


Ill ...;....... 


547:4 



Scores 
reduced to 
basis of 100 



162 



ACHIEVEMENTS OE (CITIES AS SYSTEMS. 

Comparison of Bridgeport with Other Systems. 

for convenience of reference, the scores of the several classes,, 
and of the city us a unit, have been arranged on the preceding page' 
so as to show in table 1(a) the scores made in Reading, all problems 
being counted; and in 1(b), the scores in Reasoning where the first 
six problems are counted. 

Tables 11(a) and 1Kb) show similar scores made in Funda- 
mentals. The tables have been thus organized and arranged not only 
for convenience of reference, but also for ready comparison between 
the amount of work done beyond the first six problems in Reasoning, 
and that done beyond the first six problems in Fundamentals. This, 
is of -interest and will have a bearing in the final deduction concern- 
ing each of these parts of the test. The lowest class, VIII, scored 
but 28 credits beyond the first six problems in Reasoning. The high- 
est class increased its score by 141. In Fundamentals the lowest 
class, IV, achieved 1046 after the first six problems; the highest class, 
2045. The greater facility in Fundamentals over Reasoning is thus 
clearly demonstrated. 



TABLES II* and lib 

Showing the classes in order of achievement in Stone's test in 
FUNDAMENTALS, the scores made by the several classes and by 
the city as a whole (each reduced to the basis of 100), when all prob- 
lems are counted (II a ), and when the first six problems only are 
counted (II b ). 



TABLE IIa 



TABLE IP 



Fundamentals 
All problems counted 



Fundamentals 
First six problems counted 



Classes & City 


Scores 


Classes & 


City 


Scores 


in order of 


reduced to 


in order 


of 


reduced to 


achievement 


basis of. 100 - 


; achievement 


basis of 100 


IV 


3362.3 
3963.6 


II 




2637.3 


VI 


IV 




2815.6 


VIII 


4050. 


Bridgeport 




2834.8 


II 


4109.8 


VII 




2838.2 


V 


4121.6 


V 




2848.7 


Bridgeport .... 


4224.8 


VI 




2879.5 


Ill 


4231.6 


I 




2881.2 


I 


4691.9 


VIII 




2905.5 


VII 


4997. 


Ill 




2951.5 



Tables III and IV show the place of Bridgeport in serial rank 
as compared with the other cities in Reasoning and in Fundamentals, 
respectively, all problems being counted. From Table III, Reasoning, 
it is seen that Bridgeport ranks fifteenth, counting from the lowest 



103 



city, being two orders above the median of the other cities. By 
median is meant the number, or score, below which and above which 
there are an equal number of systems. 

In Fundamentals (Table IV), Bridgeport is found occupying the 
highest rank of all, a gain of twelve places in serial order. These 
comparisons indicate that in Reasoning the Bridgeport schools mani- 
fest a fair degree of ability, while in Fundamentals, a much higher 
degree of excellence of achievement is attained. The gain of twelve 
places in rank in Fundamentals over Reasoning shows a much greater 
ability in the more formal work in arithmetic. To what extent ac- 
curacy and rapidity enter into this standing will be noted later in 
studying the tables showing accuracy and speed. 

Figure 1 presents a graphic illustration of Table III. The numbers 
in the column at the left of the figure indicate scores made by the 
several cities. Each column shows quantitatively the amount of work 



TABLES III and IV 

Showing the relative position of Bridgeport, Conn., compared 
with twenty-six other cities, in order of achievement, as measured 
by the scores made in Stone's test, all problems counted. 



TABLE III— Reasoning 



Cities 


Scores 


in order of 


reduced to 


achievement 


basis of 100 


XXIII 


356 :. 


XXIV ........ 


429 


XVII 


444 


IV 


464 


XXV 


464 


XXII 


468 


XVI 


469 


XX 


491 


XVIII 


509 


XV 


532 


Ill;/ 


533 


VIII 


538 


VI 


550 


Median 


551 


I 


552 


Bridgeport 


S88 


X 


601 


II 


615 


XXI \ 


627 


XIII 


636 


XIV 


661 


IX 


691 


VII 


734 


XII 


736 


XI 


759 


XXVI 


791 


XIX 


848 


V 


914 



TABLE IV— Fundamentals 



Cities 
in order of 
achievement 


Scores 
reduced to 
basis of 100 


XXIII 

XXV 

XX 

XXII ........ 

VIII 


1841 
2167. 
2168 
2311 

2747 


X 

XV ■'. 

Ill .; 

I 

XXI 


2749 
2779 
2845 
2935 
2951 


II 

XVII 

XIII 


2958 
3042 
3049 


• Median 

VI 

XI 


3111 

3173 
3261 


IX ..' 

xii ...;...... 

XXIV 

XIV 


3404 
3410 
3513 
3561 


IV 

v :.... 

XXVI 

XVI 

xvm .;...... 

VII 


3563 . . 

3569 

3682 

3707 

3758 

3782 


XIX 


. 4099 


Bridgeport 


4225 



104 




3r i do e. p or~t~ 



Fig. 1. — Graphical illustration of Table III, showing scores in 
REASONING made by the pupils in 6 2 classes of the schools in. 
Bridgeport, Conn., and in twenty-six other cities, ALL PROBLEMS 
being counted. 



105 



done by the city designated by the Roman numerals above the column. 
Bridgeport appears here, as in the table, the second column to the 
right of the median. 

Figure 2 graphically illustrates Table IV in a manner exactly 
similar to figure 1. In this figure, the column representing Bridgeport 
is found at the extreme right and reaching higher in place than any 
other city. These graphs, with the others to follow, lend themselves 
to a ready view of the entire field of comparison, and contrasts are 
more easily seen in this way, which will lead to a closer examination 
of the detailed scores given in the tables. It is for such purposes 
only that they have been made a part of this report. 

Table V separates .the scores in fundamentals made by the sev- 
eral cities so as to show the achievements in each of the four differ- 
ent operations, addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. Oc- 
cupying as it does the highest serial place, we must look for Bridge- 
port in a similar position under each of these heads. The table shows 
that Bridgeport ranks highest in addition and multiplication. It ranks 
next to the highest city in subtraction and division. This is consist- 
ent with the place occupied in the general score, and, further, it shows 
that the Bridgeport schools maintain an almost even level in the high 
place of achievement in each of these formal operations. 

Tables VI and VII show the scores of the Bridgeport schools in 
Reasoning and in Fundamentals, but include the scores of the first 
six problems only. In Table VI, we find Bridgeport occupying almost 
the same relative position as when all problems were counted. In 
this table it occupies the fourteenth place in rank from the lowest. 
In table III it held fifteenth rank, thus showing by the gain of one 
place in rank when all problems are counted that it had maintained 
about the same ability in achievement without any loss of rapidity 
in doing the work. Here again, the work measures fair in compari- 
son with other cities. In Funda,mentals, (Table VII), however, 
Bridgeport again occupies the highest rank and gains one place over 
its own position in Reasoning as compared with the difference in 
rank when all problems were counted. That Bridgeport occupies 
almost exactly the same positions in these two tables as it did in 
Tables III and IV, emphasizes the difference in ability between Reas- 
oning and the simple fundamental operations noted under the previous 
tables. 

Figure 3 has been drawn to illustrate Table VI. The scores are 
again placed at the. left and columns similarly used to represent the 
achievements of the several cities. In this table, however, a line of 
dashes has been drawn above the columns to show the highest pos- 
sible score attainable when the first six problems only are counted. 
As the number of pupils who failed to attempt the first six problems 
are so few as to be almost negligible, the space between the top of 
each column and the line of highest score will approximately illus- 
ion 



L0 

If oo 

JtoO 

ixoo 
SOoa 



: a 1 



I 



i 




Fig. 2.— Graphical illustration of Table IV, showing scores m 
FUNDAMENTALS made by the pupils in 62 classes of the schools iri 
Bridgeport, Conn., and in twenty-six other cities, ALL PROBLEM^ 
being counted. 

107 



TABLE V 

Showing the relative position of Bridgeport, Conn., compared 
with twenty-six other cities, in the order of achievement as measured 
by the scores made in each of the fundamental operations. 



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TABLES VI and VII 

Showing the relative position of Bridgeport, Conn., compared 
with twenty-six other cities, in order of achievement, as measured 
by the scores for the first six problems only. 



TABLE VI— Reasoning 



TABLE VII— Fundamentals 



Cities 




Scores 


in order 


of 


reduced to 


achievement 


basis of 100 


XXIII ... 




342 


XVII 




. 389 


XVI 




389 


XXIV .... 




396 


IV 




420 


XXII .... 




423 


XX 




426 


XXV 




438 


Ill 




445 


XVIII ... 




452 


VI 




455 


I 




466 


VIII 




468 


Me 


dian 


483 


Bridgeport 




494 


XIII 




497 


x .: 




502 


IX 




503 


XV 




508 


XIV 




514 


II 




516 


XXI 


532 


XII 


536 


V 


549 


XIX 


564 


XXVI 


569 


XI 


576 


VII 


661 







Cities 


Scores 


in order of 


reduced to 


achievement 


basis of 100 


XXIII 


1776 


XXV 


2078 


XX 


2084 


XXII 


2116 


X 


2383 


XVII 


2416 


I 


2456 


XV 


2494 


Ill 


2495 


VIII .......... 


2501 


XXI 


2548 


II ............. 


2554 


VI 


2565 


Median 


2578 


XIII 


2590 


IX 


2650 


IV 


2694 


XVIII ....... 


2703 


XI 


2706 


XXVI 


2710 


XII 


2713 


XIV 


2717 


XVI 


2728 


V 


2767 


VII 


2782 


XIX 


2791 


XXIV 


2815 


Bridgeport 


2835 



109 



I! 




no 



trate the amount of inaccuracy in this part of the work. In this 
graph Bridgeport itself becomes the median of the twenty-seven cities 
here represented. 

Figure 4 similarly illustrates Table VII when only the first six 
problems in fundamentals are counted. The column representing 
Bridgeport is again at the extreme right, extending above the others. 
The line of highest possible score for the six problems is again placed 
above the several columns, and will serve similarly to show approxi- 
mately the amount of accuracy. 

Since these four columns have been constructed on the basis of 
the actual scores made rather than on the per cent of work done upon 
equivalent basis, the height of the columns must not be understood 
to show the amount of work done in Fundamentals as in any way 
compared with the amount of work done in Reasoning. Such a com- 
parison is made in presenting the next tables and the graphs repre- 
senting them, in order that the accuracy in working Fundamentals 
and the simple problems in Reasoning may be more positively com- 
pared. 

Tables VIII and IX are intended to show measures of accuracy 
In arithmetic work. Table VIII presents definitely the number of 
problems in Reasoning attempted and the number of mistakes in 
reasoning, not in computation. The rate per cent, of this number of 
mistakes is based upon the total number of problems attempted by 
each system. In this table it is shown that Bridgeport occupies a 
higher rank in accuracy than it attained in achievement, being twenty- 
second above the lowest here; whereas, it was fifteenth above the 
lowest in order of achievement. This does not indicate that the 
rank in achievement has been lowered because of any great amount 
of inaccuracy; probably the contrary is the case. 

In table IX, inaccuracy is measured by the number of mistakes 
made in the problems calling for addition only, problems 1, 4, and 7. 
Dr. Stone has shown in his Arithmetical Abilities, page 29, why he 
considers * * * "addition to be the best of the four fundamental 
operations to serve as a measure of accuracy in the more formal 
phases of arithmetic." In Table IX, a considerable change is noted 
In the rank of Bridgeport from that which it occupied in the table 
of achievement in Fundamentals. Here it occupies the sixteenth 
place from the lowest, eleven places below the highest rank, its 
position in order of achievement. This is a factor which will be 
considered in finally estimating the relative abilities shown by the 
pupils in the Bridgeport schools, all things being considered. 

Figures 5 and 6 are drawn to illustrate graphically the rates per 
cent, of mistakes set forth in the two tables just discussed. In these 
graphs, however, it is entirely proper to make an immediate com- 
parison based upon the height of the columns. The figures at the 
left of the columns are rates per cent intended to aid in showing 
the per cent, of mistakes indicated by each column. Again, each of 

111 



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Fig. 4. — Graphical illustration of Table VII, showing scores in 
FUNDAMENTALS made by the pupils in 62 classes of the schools in 
Bridgeport, Conn., and in twenty-six other cities, only the FIRST, 
SIX PROBLEMS being counted. 



nz 



TABLES VIII and IX 

Showing the relative position of Bridgeport, Conn., compared 
with twenty-six other cities in order of achievement as measured by 
mistakes made. 



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Fig. 5. — Graphical illustration of Table VIII, showing the relative 
position of Bridgeport, Conn., compared with twenty-six other cities, 
when measured by per cent, of MISTAKES made in REASONING, 
all problems being counted. 



114 




Fig. 6. — Graphical illustration of Table IX, showing the relative 
position of Bridgeport, Conn., compared with twenty-six other cities 
in order of accuracy of achievement measured by per cent of MIS-* 
TAKES MADE IN ADDITION, problems 1, 4, 7 being counted. 



115 



TABLE X 

Showing relative standings in arithmetical abilities and in 
accuracy, of Bridgeport compared with twenty-six other city systems 
of schools — averages ranking in serial order, 1 — lowest, 2 — next 
higher, and so on. 





Abilities 


Accuracy 






Serial 


Serial 


Serial 


Serial 






standing 


standing 


standing 


standing 




Average 


in 


in Funda- 


in 


in Funda- 


SYSTEMS 


serial 


Reasoning 


1 mentals 


Reasoning 


mentals^ 




standing 


(Table 


(Table 


(Table 


(Table 






III) 


IV) 


VIII) 


IX) 


XXIII 


1 


1 


1 


3 


15 


XXV 


3 

4.5 
5 


4 
5 

7 


4 
3 


16 

8 
18 


14 


XXII 


1 


XX 


2 


XVII 


7.5 
8 


3 

11 


12 
5 


13 


4 


VIII 


17 


XV 


8 


9 


7 


6 


11 


Ill 


9 

10 


10 
2 


8 
18 


4 

10 


20 


XXIV 


23 


X 


10 


14 


6 


9 


7 


I 


11 
12 


13 
4 


9 
20 


5 

17 


3 


IV 


13 


II 


13.5 


16 


11 


24 


19 


XXI 


13.5 


17 


10 


26 


26 


VI 


13.5 


13 


14 


7 


6 


XVI 


15 


7 


23 


1 


18 


XIII 


16 
16.5 


19 
9 


13 
24 


11 
14 


10 


XVIII 


5 


IX 


18.5 
19.5 


21 

24 


16 
15 


23 

27 


8 


XI 


27 


XIV 


19.5 

20 

M 


20 
23 
15 


19 
17 
27 


20 
21 
22 


22 


XII 


21 


XXVI 


16 


23.5 
23.5 
24 
26 


25 
22 
27 
26 


22 
25 
21 
26 


12 
19 
25 
15 


24 


VII 


12 


V 


9 


XIX 


25 



116 



the columns represents the city designated by the Roman numeral 
placed above it. The great difference in accuracy in working Reas- 
oning problems and simple Fundamentals becomes evident at once 
upon comparing the two graphs. 

Table X brings together the serial standing of all the cities in 
Fundamentals and in Reasoning from which the rank by average of 
abilities is obtained. Bridgeport is found ranking twenty-third, count- 
ing from the lowest, or fifth, counting from the highest rank. The 
average of abilities which determines the place tin serial standing 
is obtained by dividing the sum of the numbers, indicating the serial 
order by the scores made in Reasoning and by scores made in Funda- 
mentals, by two. For purposes of comparison, the serial standings 
in accuracy have also been brought together in this table, but they 
have not been used in computing the average of abilities. It is seen 
from the foregoing that the arithmetical abilities of the children in 
the Bridgeport schools stand well up toward the highest. Before 
deducing a final estimate it will be well to study some of the factors 
entering into the average attained. 

First, to what extent has accuracy been a factor in determining 
the place of Bridgeport among other cities? It will be noticed that 
Bridgeport ranks fifteen from the lowest in Reasoning. In accuracy 
it occupies the twenty-second place above the lowest. This indi- 
cates clearly, as hereinbefore stated, that the relatively lower position 
occupied in Reasoning is not chargeable to inaccuracy since it has 
gained seven places in accuracy over the place made in Reasoning. 
As far as this point Is concerned then, other factors must be studied 
to explain what is evidently a lower order of ability in Reasoning 
than in Fundamentals. 

In Fundamentals, Bridgeport occupies the highest rank in achieve- 
ment among all the cities. In contrast with the gain in serial posi- 
tion in Reasoning, there has been a loss of eleven places in the rank 
attained in accuracy. This shows the greater ability in the funda- 
mental operations, notwithstanding the relatively lower position in 
accuracy. 

Another point that must be considered is the facility or rapidity 
shown in the work and its effect upon the final standing of the city. 
Tables XI and XII have been compiled for this purpose. 

Table XI, Reasoning, compares the scores made in all problems 
with the scores made In the first six problems by Bridgeport, by the 
median city, and by the highest city in rank according to Table X. 
In comparing Bridgeport with the median city, it is seen that Bridge- 
port scores less by 39, all problems counted. In the first six problems 
the deficiency was 38, making a loss of but one after the first six 
problems. This additional loss Is too small to indicate any lower 
degree of facility or rapidity than was possessed by the median city. 
In comparing Bridgeport with the highest city, it is seen that Bridge- 
port is 70 scores lower for the first six problems and 260 below when 

117 



TABLES XI and XII 

Showing rapidity or slowness by the higher or the lower scores 
made in Reasoning and in Fundamentals when all problems are 
counted; also by the gain or the loss in excess of scores for all prob- 
lems over the excess when first six problems are counted, the scores 
made by Bridgeport being compared with the corresponding scores 
made by the median city (XXI) and the highest city (XIX) in 
serial rank of average abilities given in TABLE X. 

-f- = excess or gain, — = deficiency or loss. 





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all problems were counted. In other words, Bridgeport made a "loss 
in excess" of 190 scores over the deficiency in the scores for the first 
six problems. This indicates that Bridgeport pupils have been able 
to do less work than the highest city in the same time, and that the 
lower ability shown in Reasoning has not been caused by over- 
speeding. 

Table XII makes a similar comparison with regard to Funda- 
mentals. In comparison with the median city, Bridgeport makes a 
gain in excess of 987 credits over the excess shown in the first six 
problems. Here Bridgeport has not only attained a higher score for 
the first six problems, but has also increased that gain by 700 points 
after the first six, clearly indicating a much higher degree of facility 
and rapidity in doing this part of the work. In comparison with the 
highest city, Bridgeport still shows greater speed, though not to so 
great an extent, the gain in excess here being 82. When it is remem- 
bered that in Reasoning, the Bridgeport schools ranked higher in 
accuracy than in the score of achievement, and that they have not 
been over-speedy, it is indicated clearly that these two factors have 
not tended to lower the relative rank in Reasoning. Again, it is 
noted that the rank Jn Fundamentals is not only held for the first six 
problems, but is more firmly fixed when all problems are considered; 
that there is a gain in rapidity, while at the same time, there is a 
lowered rank in accuracy. The deduction is that both facility and 
accuracy have been forces in determining the rank, but that gain 
by facility has been so much greater than the loss' of accuracy as 
to have more than overbalanced its opposing effect. 

Figure 7 presents in charted form all of these results and de- 
ductions. The serial order of the twenty-seven cities is noted in the 
numbers at the left. The charting presents the various changes in 
standings for Bridgeport, for the city ranking lowest, for the median 
city, and for the city ranking highest. The heavy solid lines repre- 
sent Bridgeport. The dot and dash lines represent the other cities. 
The. chart shows the relative rank of Bridgeport and of the cities 
just mentioned in Reasoning and in Fundamentals, and contrasts 
the rankl attained in Reasoning with the rank in Fundamentals. 
That Bridgeport falls below the median city in Reasoning while it 
ranks so much above the others in Fundamentals, that over-speeding 
and inaccuracy cannot be chargeable as the cause, and that the more 
formal part of the work, Fundamentals, attains the higher rank, 
with rapidity overbalancing the greater relative degree of inaccuracy, 
these conditions make it necessary to_inquire to what extent the 
course of study, its interpretation and use, and supervision may pos- 
sibly affect the results obtained. 

An examination of the course of study in arithmetic shows that 
the topics are definite and clear, that the order of topics conforms to 
that found in most other cities, and that there are ample suggestions 
intended to be helpful to the teacher. In some respects, the char- 

119 



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Fig. 7. — Chart showing the rank of Bridgeport, of the highest, of 
the lowest, and of the median city (Table X) in each of the several 
serial standings; the upward and the downward changes in rank; the 
comparison of city with city; and the contrast of standings in reason- 
ing with those in fundamentals. 



120 



aoter of these suggestions may be considered as the cause for the 
emphasis put upon the more formal side of the work. An illustra- 
tion of this is found on page 36 under "Intelligent Statement." The 
suggestions here are so definite and precise that they take on the 
character of being prescribed rather than suggested. This may, and 
doubtless does, in part, account for the teachers' insisting upon form 
in the solution of simple concrete problems to so great an extent 
as to interfere materially with the freedom of the child in working 
out his own thoughts. One does not suppose that this is the inten- 
tion of the course. It has been shown by a number of investigators 
that the course of study in itself is not a very potent factor in the 
result produced; but that the interpretation and the use of the course 
of study is of the greatest moment. Where the interpretation is not 
what it was intended to be, and where the use does not follow the 
expectation, it would indicate that there is need for a somewhat 
closer supervision. 

This study of the arithmetic work of the Bridgeport schools, 
therefore, leads to the deduction that the work in arithmetic is of 
a high order, that greater emphasis is placed upon the more formal 
part of the work, that in Reasoning the work is of a fair order, that 
the course of study probably emphasizes the formal, and that closer 
supervision would tend to overcome any misapprehension with regard 
to what the course of study intended the practice to be. 

ACHIEVEMENT OF CLASSES AS CLASSES. 

It was thought that it might be of interest to present briefly the 
scores of the classes as such in comparison with the score of the 
city as a whole. Table XIII gives the score in Reasoning for each 
class, the number of problems attempted, the score achieved, the 
number of mistakes made, and the per cent, of inaccuracy. 

Table XIV presents the same points for Fundamentals. The 
number of classes is so much smaller than the number of systems 
that no attempt will be made to compare the amount of deviation 
between the classes with the amount of deviation between the high- 
est and lowest city systems. It will be noted in Table XIII that 
class V occupies the median position. The score is 609. The differ- 
ence between the scores of the lowest class, VIII, and the highest 
class, II, is 241, which is 39.6% deviation from the median class, mak- 
ing the same comparison in Fundamentals, the difference between 
the highest and lowest scores is 1135, which is just 27.5% deviation 
from the median score of 4122. These rates of deviation' are, of 
course, much less than that found between the highest and lowest 
of the twenty-six city systems in the previous part of the study; 
but here, again, we note that the deviation in Reasoning is over 12% 
more than the deviation in Fundamentals. This is another way of 
showing that even within the classes themselves greater ability is 
developed in form and method than in the concrete process of Reas- 
oning. 

121 



ACHIEVEMENT OF THE CLASSES AS CLASSES 
TABLES XIII and XIV 

Comparison of the various scores made by the Bridgeport classes 
and the city as a whole in Reasoning and in Fundamentals, all prob- 
lems being counted and scores reduced to basis of 100. 



w 

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Q 


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Table XV has been added to show the ranking order of the sev- 
eral classes by an average of their abilities. To anyone knowing the 
kind of pupils, their home environment, age, and time at school, this 
table will form an interesting study. 



TABLE XV 

Relative serial standing of classes and the city as a whole, based 
upon average ranking in abilities as shown in Tables XIII and XIV. 







Serial Standing 




Average 






Class 


of 


Reasoning 


Fundamentals 




abilities 


(Table XIII) - 


(Table XIV) 


IV 


1.5 


o 


1 


VIII .... 


o 


1 


3 


VI 


2.5 


3 


2 


Bridge'pt 


5. 


4 


6 


V 


5. 


i ' 5 ■- ;.. 


5 


II 


6.5 


9. 


.4 . 


I 


7 


6 


8 


Ill 


7. "• 


7 


"7 


VII 


. 8,5 


8 


9 



123 



XII. GENERAL SUMMARY. 

Financial Support of the School System. 

1. How much education and how good an education a community 
actually gets for its children depends, first, on how much money it 
spends, and, second, on whether or not it uses each dollar appropri- 
ated so as to get the best and largest educational return. 

2. Bridgeport spends annually for public schools more than a 
third of a million dollars received from local taxes, state funds, and 
tuition fees. 

3. Bridgeport spends $26.81 each year for the education of each 
school child, while the average for 11 other cities of similar size is 
$41.13. To put the Bridgeport schools on a par with those of the 
average city of like population would cost about $200,000 additional 
per year. 

4. Bridgeport teachers receive lower salaries and teach larger 
classes than do those of any other city compared, which means that 
Bridgeport children receive cheaper teaching and less of it than the 
children of the other cities. 

5. Bridgeport spends less per child for every separate item of 
school expenditure than does the average city of like size, which 
means that Bridgeport children get a smaller quantity or a lower 
quality of every sort of educational opportunity than do the children 
of the other cities. 

6. Bridgeport citizens spend less per capita for city support 
than do those of any other city of similar size save one, but they 
spend less for their public schools than do the citizens of any other 
city compared. 

7. The particular items in which the Bridgeport expenditures 
are most deficient when compared with those of other cities are the 
support of the business office of the Board of Education, the purchase 
of stationery and supplies, the payment of janitors, the support of 
the Superintendent's office, and the purchase of text-books. 

8. Among the 168 towns and cities of Connecticut, Bridgeport 
ranks second, third, and fourth in seven comparisons of educational 
resources, and 153d and 154th in two comparisons of educational 
expenditures. 

Differentiation of Functions, Supervision and Organization. 

1. All nominations of teachers should be made by the Super- 
intendent of Schools. The Board's function here is to accept or 
reject. 

2. The supervision is notably insufficient in amount. Employ 
an assistant superintendent and at least one supervisor of primary 
work, and two assistant supervisors of drawing and hand work. Let 
the assistant superintendent be a man who, in addition to skill in the 
supervision of the more traditional subjects, possesses the technical 
knowledge and practical experience needed in directing the industrial 
work in the grades and the high school. 

124 



3. Employ a stenographer and an additional clerk trained in 
statistical methods to conserve the time of the Superintendent. 

4. Conserve the time of principals for supervision by relieving 
them of the bookkeeping incident to the penny savings system as 
now conducted. 

5. Carry further and make more systematic the grouping of 
upper grammar grades in centrally located buildings, and provide 
for differentiation of work in accordance with the needs of different 
groups of pupils. Conduct the instruction of these classes on the 
departmental plan. 

6. The schoolrooms are overcrowded and they lack adequate 
teaching equipment. 

7. There are no rooms available in which to organize special 
classes for foreign-born, backward, and other exceptional children. 

8. The city now needs 32 additional rooms to take care of 
ordinary classes. To provide these rooms at once and, in addition, 
provide for further needs, involves too great a charge upon the 
resources of a single year. Future generations may properly be 
allowed to share the cost of improvements as permanent as school- 
houses. 

9. According to generally accepted standards, too few children 
in the elementary grades are making either rapid or normal progress. 
Both retardation and elimination are excessive. In the fifth grade 
59% of the pupils are over-age and 51% pf all pupils enrolled have 
left school before reaching the sixth grade. 

10. The schools are strong in drill processes, less strong in 
reasoning. 

11. It is questionable whether formal examinations should play 
so prominent a part in the promotion of pupils as they appear to do. 

12. The discipline of the schools is superior and the spirit of 
the teaching force notably good. 

13. A higher maximum salary for teachers, if awarded strictly 
on the basis of merit and not merely on length of service, would be a 
wise investment. 



The City formal School. 

1. The normal school is seriously handicapped by lack of facili- 
ties of every kind. It needs more rooms, more teachers, more books 
and apparatus, and more opportunities for observation work and 
practice teaching. 

2. The entrance requirements are too easy. 

3. The local normal school should not furnish more than two- 
thirds of the teachers appointed annually. 

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The High School. 

1. Many of the obvious weaknesses of the school on the ed- 
ucational side are direct cpnsequences of the unsatisfactory physical 
conditions under which the work is being conducted. 

2. The discipline of the school is good. 

3. Too little money is expended on the school to give the boys 
and girls the educational experiences to which they are entitled. 

4. Develop the present commercial course into a coherent four- 
year course and offer a short clerkship course. 

5. Greek is being taken by so few pupils that its retention 
involves an extravagant use of teacher time in view of the other 
needs of the school. 

6. Provide a two-year course in Latin open to pupils not going 
to college. 

7. Provide an industrial department with a full four-year in- 
dustrial course and a full four-year domestic science course. Pro- 
vide shorter courses for boys and girls who will leave at the age of 
sixteen. 

8. In co-operation with the bureau for granting work permits, 
arrange for vocational guidance. 

9. In the new high school building provision should be made for 
the industrial department. 

10. The shops should be strictly industrial both as to the ar- 
rangement of their equipment and the type of work done in them. 

11. Strengthen the administration of the" school, particularly in 
the line of better supervision: so as to develop more unity of effort 
and more co-operation among the members of certain departments, and 
so as to improve the quality of the instruction throughout the school. 

Industrial Education. 

1. There is a certain minimum of general' education which 
every individual ought to have in order that he may be an intelli- 
gent citizen and get a reasonable amount of satisfaction out of life. 

2. It is unreasonable to suppose that this necessary minimum 
of training can be given in less than six years of schooling. 

3. No essential part of this general education should be sac- 
rificed in order to include training for industrial efficiency. 

4. After the general education has been taken care of, there 
should be provided for the boys in the last two or three years of 
the elementary school opportunities for training in a number of 
lines of practical work for the purpose of developing broad indus- 
trial intelligence, under the guidance of competent teachers, and to 
assist in the choosing of a life-work. 

5. General education for girls should be supplemented in the 
last two or three years of the elementary school by opportunities 
corresponding to those proposed for boys, and by practical training 

126 



in cooking, sewing, dressmaking, millinery, marketing, keeping of 
household accounts, sanitation and hygiene, for the purpose of help- 
ing them to an understanding of the principles of home making. 

6. After the completion of the general education, there should 
be provided opportunities for practical industrial courses, closely 
related to the activities of the community, open to those boys and 
girls who elect to take them, which will increase the general 
industrial intelligence and efficiency of those who must become wage- 
earners at the earliest possible time. 

7. The methods and processes employed in industrial courses 
should be organized about the making of useful projects, rather than 
abstract exercises which result in a mere waste of material or scrap. 

8. The products resulting from the industrial activities of the 
school shops, while useful, should not be such as to involve unfair 
competition with the industries of the community. 

9. So far as practicable, the products of the school shops may 
be those classes of articles of equipment and supplies required for 
use in the school system itself, and articles which are not produced 
in the community. 

10. The different lines of industrial work should be taught by 
teachers who are themselves skilled workers in the processes to be 
taught. 

11. The programs of the industrial courses should be based on 
a study of the requirements of the pupils to be taught. Careful ex- 
perimentation in various cities seems to have demonstrated that a 
six-hour day produces the most efficient results for pupils of fourteen 
to sixteen years of age. 

12. The classes, should be small enough to make efficient in- 
struction possible in complete processes from raw materials to fin- 
ished product. 

13. The industrial courses should be controlled, under the au- 
thority and direction of the Board of Education, by advisory com- 
mittees which should contain equal representation of wage-earnerb 
and einr-loyers in the industries concerned. 

14. The Board of Education should employ a trained expert to 
organize and direct the entire scheme of manual training, household 
training, and industrial courses, and give him sufficient freedom 
to develop the work. 

15. Nothing should be done that will result in diminishing the 
facilities and opportunities now existing for those boys and girls 
Who desire to continue in a course of general education in order 
to prepare for high school, college, technical or professional school, 
etc. Rather, these facilities should be extended and improved in 
every way possible, and made available for an increasing number 

127 



of individuals. The school system must provide opportunities for 
all boys and girls who are qualified, and have the ambition, to pursue 
higher courses in professional -training that are equal in every respect 
to those provided for industrial education. 

16. A careful study should be made of local conditions, and a 
modest beginning made in those directions where the needs seem to be 
most immediate and pressing, subsequent expansion being based on 
continued study and experimentation. 

17. Provision should be made of opportunities for supplemental 
instruction in general education, or industrial education, or both, "or 
workers already engaged in the industries. 

Course of Study, Geography, History, Arithmetic, etc. 

1. If the directions in the course of study were expanded into- 
a syllabus of each subject, and the requirements under each grade 
stated under subject headings rather than by pages in the text books, 
it would have added usefulness. 

2. The division of the time allotted to given studies between 
study and recitation has much to commend it. 

3. The work in geography deserves special commendation. 

4. The work in history and citizenship ought to receive the 
same earnest attention that has made the work in geography so satis- 
factory. 

5. In arithmetic the emphasis is rightly placed on fundamental 
operations and intelligent solution of problems. Bridgeport pupils 
Who complete the sixth grade take high rank in this subject. 

6. It would be well to make careful study of the effect of the 
relatively high requirements in arithmetic upon promotion, partic- 
ularly in the lower grades. 

English. 

1. The work in English lacks unity. Spelling, punctuation, and 
technical grammar are taught as ends in themselves, not as aids to 
self-expression. 

2. The course of study in English is indefinite and general. 
Technical grammar is given more time than composition. 

3. Reading is taught in a uniform manner throughout the system. 
The method used is, for the greater part, based upon a knowledge and 
use of phonetics. Objective teaching is thus neglected. The same 
texts are used in the schools composed of foreigners as in those at- 
tended by Americans. 

4. There is little uniformity in the teaching of oral composi- 
tion. This work, however, is admirably done in some Schools. 

128 



5. Little emphasis is given to plan work. As a result the com- 
positions often show an illogical arrangement of thoughts and a 
slight .feeling for the relative value of ideas. 

6. The penmanship, as a whole, <is fairly satisfactory. 

7. The work in each grade should be unified with English as a 
basis. Spelling, punctuation, phonetics, and technical grammar should 
always be taught as aids to self-expression, not as an end in them- 
selves. 

8. Revise the course of study in English giving definite and de- 
tailed directions for the teaching of composition. Give more empha- 
sis to composition teaching, less to technical grammar. 

9. Give language lessons preparatory to reading. Depend less 
upon phonetics and more upon connecting the printed text with tke 
thought to be conveyed by the reader. Use in the schools composed 
almost entirely of foreigners texts expressly prepared for the language 
training of such children. 

10. Emphasize oral composition. Train the children, in all work, 
to talk in paragraph units. Use this oral work as an immediate prep- 
aration for written composition. 

11. Have the children make outlines before attempting any oral 
and written composition work. This should develop a logical ar- 
rangement of thought and a greater feeling for the relative value of 
ideas. 

12. The course in English literature and composition offered in 
the Normal School should aim to increase the scholarship of the pupil- 
teachers in English as well as to suggest good methods of teaching. 
Such a course would enable them later to do original and progressive 
work in the grades. 



129 



TABLE OF CONTENTS. 



Letter of Transmittal 3 

I. Preliminary Comments and Recommendations.. 5 

II. The School Board 11 

III. The Financial Support of the School System 12 

IV. Distribution of Pupils in the Schools 30 

V. Proposed Changes in Organization 40 

VI. The City Normal School 43 

VII. The High School 53 

VIII. The Industries of Bridgeport 61 

IX. History 77 

X. English 82 

XI. Arithmetic 96 

XII. General Summary 124 



